Sorry but another healthcare costs rant acomin'...

I just had total knee replacement surgery. For the surgery and a 2 day hospital stay the bill was over $76000. And that doesn't include the surgeon's fees. My total out of pocket so far is somewhere around $2000.00. The insurance company (BCBS of Texas) has paid about $19k. I'm sweating bullets right now because Louisiana does not have a law against balance billing for out of network providers. I made damn sure everyone was in network well before my surgery date, but there is always that one forgotten detail...