I am wanting to take a hardship withdrawl from my 401k, but they are asking for basically the bill after surgery. As you all know we have to pay upfront, is there a way around this?

The terms for hardship withdrawal from the IRS stipulate you can take this withdrawal to "pay for medical bills not reimbursed by insurance or otherwise". So technically they do need to confirm your insurance has not paid. Does your plan allow for loans? Sometimes you have to exhaust all means prior to taking a loan. At age 59 1/2 you are eligible for withdrawal. Be prepared the fees/taxes when it is done is generally well over 50 percent.

Good luck!

You might be able to get your surgeon to prepare an itemized list of expected costs that you can give to your plan administrator. One of the girls at my work had to take a hardship withdrawl for dental work, and just got an itemized list from the dental office and sent it to the plan, and they approved it, and gave her the money.

Now the 401K plan is asking for a letter from dr stating the surgery is medically necessary. Ugh they are driving me crazy.