Sorry Zoero about your experience. This kind of response from doctors whom dont know much about Eagles is more common than not. He doesnt know what he is talking about so take it with a grain of salt.
Another member here paid about $13K for samji out of pocket I think but Im not sure what that all included. Dr. Samji did both my surgeries and I know Regence didnt pay anywhere close to these amounts. I will look it up.
I hate to say this but think of this as a negotiation of a car. You are saving the doctor and the surgery center $$ by paying cash and without the cost and hassle of submitting paperwork to insurance company for surgery. Calling in advance and asking for a cash price is always a good way to go. I would even call back and say that another facility and surgeon will do it for less and see if they would match it?
I looked up what Regence paid in Dec 2020 for my surgery. They billed out the facility fee (Silicon Valley Surgery) at about $23,000 US. The negotiated rate was $1883 US. That is a significant difference.
Samji billed out at about $6400 US, Negotiated rate of about $3800. pre-op appt billed out at $372. Discounted rate $190. Pathology $190. Anesthesia billed out at $3600. Negotiated rate was about $1700.
Feel free to quote these numbers to them as a starting point. I suggest offering Samji $5K and the surgery center $3-4K. Also do the same for Anesthesia ($2500?) as they are know for ripping off patients (this is in general not specific to this practice.) I hope this helps. It can apply to most any similar surgery. Depending on your income, many larger academic hospitals and most any surgery center will have a application for reduced fees depending on your income. Im not sure why it would not apply to you even if coming from out of country.