Earlier this year I was looking at some outpatient surgery. The local IHC hospitals quoted 23,000 for the surgery, and with my insurance, the hospital rep happily announced that I would max out my out-of-pocket amounts for the year. I called an independent surgery center and got a quote for at tenth of the price, at $2300, but since they didn't take my insurance, I would have to pay out of pocket (which was still quite a bit less than the out-of-pocket amount for IHC). I went with the surgi-center.