A Montana patient broke her elbow, and what followed was a $97,000 bill.

Shortly after her fall, the uninsured patient was quoted $50,000 and went into surgery. Afterwards, the unexpectedly high bill came, including more than $50,000 for medical supplies and implants.

“I’ll make payments the rest of my life to pay it all off,” the patient said.

To understand the cost, the patient turned to Healthcare Bluebook, a tool that compares national pricing data, and found that similar surgeries typically cost between $8,000 and $40,000, a fraction of what Bozeman Health charged.

Even worse, the hospital’s billing staff misinformed her of her legal rights. Emails show a billing employee falsely claimed the No Surprises Act only applies to ER services, and later gave her the wrong deadline to dispute the bill.

This case exposes a bigger problem: hospitals often lack price transparency, give inaccurate estimates, and fail to properly inform patients of their rights. Under federal law, uninsured and self-pay patients can dispute excessive bills, but only if hospitals give them correct information.

Corporate hospital systems like Bozeman Health must be held to a higher standard. Patients deserve to know their rights and receive transparent and clear pricing about their procedures.