With no pediatric ophthalmologists in network near their home in Wentzville, Missouri, Keyanna Jones asked United Healthcare to cover her daughter's eye surgery with an out-of-network specialist. The insurer agreed — and then sent them a bill for $13,000.

For the most part, Keyanna Jones and her husband thought they knew what to expect when their daughter Chloë had eye surgery last fall.

Even Chloë, who was in kindergarten, had a good understanding of how things would go that day. Before the procedure, a hospital worker gave her a coloring book that explained the steps of the surgery — a procedure to correct a condition that could have eventually interfered with her vision.

“Chloë is very smart,” Jones said. “She reads at almost a third-grade level now, and she’s only 6.”

Jones did her

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