Some work-based health plans exclude outpatient surgeries

Libbi Stovall couldn't believe it last month when she looked at the fine print in her company's 2016 health plan, which supposedly meets the strictest standard for employer obligations under Obamacare rules. The insurance paid for inpatient hospital care, office visits and diagnostic imaging. But it provided no coverage for outpatient surgery, which accounts for two out of every three operations in the nation, according to hospital industry data. "I knew their policy would not give my family the coverage we need," said Stovall, 52, who lives in Carrollton, Texas, and has a history of back problems, including outpatient surgery in 2014 to remove a cyst.