I had two significant herniations on my C6/7 disc (3.3mm, 5mm). Seriously limited range of motion in my neck and debilitating pain in left shoulder, back, and arm. "You need surgery," the highly-recommended doctor said. Then his in-retrospect-maybe-little-too-helpful office staff cheerily informed me of the need for some basic pre-op tests (a few standard blood panels, an EKG, and a couple of x-rays), and literally walked me across the parking lot to a hospital lab to get them done. The hospital promptly billed my insurance $5000 for the lab tests, insurance limited them to $800 or so, coughed up a token $45 contribution for their part, and left the rest to me. Later got a separate $200 bill from radiology, too. THAT'S 1000 CLAMS FOR A FEW FREAKING LABS. I can only imagine what the surgeon and all the associated grifters were going to charge me if I had actually gone ahead with major surgery.

Meanwhile the urgent care down the street said they would have done the same exact lab tests for less than $300 total.

So anyway, I bailed on the major surgery, and I've been going to a regenerative therapy place for 2 months instead (paid them a few grand so far) and seeing dramatic improvement.

Maybe we don't need all the things they tell us we need.