Surgery is the type of major medical event that one typically envisions health insurance covering. People don't generally buy insurance just to cover the small stuff. 

But according to a report from Kaiser Health News, many plans offered through Healthcare.gov don't cover outpatient surgeries, which account for two-thirds of all surgeries performed in the U.S. 

And yet, the current situation represents an improvement for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. After the law was implemented two years ago, many employers that had previously not offered insurance to their workers began providing employees with insurance policies that did not provide any coverage of hospital services, including inpatient surgeries. The Obama administration told employers that such plans did not offer the minimum level of coverage required under the law, and that they would be subject to fines if they did not offer more comprehensive coverage.