Nobody is checking who the ER physician is during an emergency situation. They can't choose who their physician is during an ER visit. When I book a court with a private teacher for lessons, there's a clear understanding there and I also get to choose the instructor. I don't get to choose who sees my wife at the ER. Not many people know that when you go to the ER the physician might not take their insurance, even though the hospital does. They figure that the facility is in-network, and since they don't get to choose their physician in the ER, that they are in-network as well.
We went in, paid our $200 copay, and my wife received treatment. We went home thinking that was it. We received an EOB saying we had zero patient responsibility. Then months later we got an unexpected bill, with a threat to take me and my wife to collections if we didn't pay up. How is that fair to us?
Additionally, how do I know that it was my insurance that wouldn't contract with the Physician group? For all I know the group decided not to contract with the insurance. They have a choice as to what insurances they will and won't contract with as well. In the end we were the ones left scrambling, trying to figure out what the crap was going on. To be blindsided like that is extremely upsetting, and while I sympathize with the physician himself, I hold the physician group(company), the insurance, and the hospital responsible for not providing an understanding of the situation.