Doctor is trying to double dip on billing.

I recently had surgery on my ankle and have had the bills start rolling in. Most of them were expected, however one was not. I got billed approximately $30,000 for a surgical assistant. This was not disclosed to me beforehand and was never mentioned by the billing person at my surgeons office. It was billed out of network, and my insurance company denied the charge as being unnecessary. Now I’m on the hook for a ton of money.

I wanted more information on this mysterious assistant so I did a bit of digging into the company that provided the assistant. Their operating address is a mailbox at an executive suite. They have no phone number, fax number, email, or website. I finally found a copy of the dba where they had registered the company and found the name of their CEO and president. It just so happened to be my surgeon.

At this point I’m a bit taken aback. My in network surgeon is operating a second company out of network that has provided me with an undisclosed provider that has been denied by my insurance company. I’m not sure if this qualifies as balance billing. Honestly, it feels a bit like an attempt at insurance fraud. Any feedback on if a doctor can potentially double dip like this would be great. I’ll get a lawyer if necessary but I want to see if it passes the smell test first.

This is in Texas if that matters.