he didn’t pay the person that he owed, and he has no idea of the real amount of “what he actually owed”.
the amount that he paid was utterly unrelated to the services that were received. debt collection agencies don’t know (or care) the different between hospital bad debt and new car bad debt. it’s odd to think that a bad debt collector is going to magically arrive at the perfectly computed real value of a complicated medical procedure.
He paid the hospital's agent. Again, that was the hospital's choice.
He had a good idea of what the service was worth and he certainly did know that it wasn't worth eight grand. Try to be serious.
the amount that he paid was utterly unrelated to the services that were received.
That's just your opinion. Looks pretty close to reasonable to me.
debt collection agencies don’t know (or care) the different between hospital bad debt and new car bad debt.
That's not on him. He didn't choose the collection agency, the hospital did. They delegated the negotiation to the agency and that was their choice. Let's be real here. The hospital did that because they knew the price was a scam to begin with and they weren't going to get the full amount billed anyway. The tried a scam. It didn't work. So they had to settle for what they could get. If they had been honest to begin with they probably would have come out better. Some people are intimidated by bill collectors though and can be bullied into paying what the collector demands. So using a collection agency was just another last ditch attempt at overcharging the patient. It just didn't work this time.
it’s odd to think that a bad debt collector is going to magically arrive at the perfectly computed real value of a complicated medical procedure.
But asking someone to pay for services not given to him, but given to some other patients is not odd?
And what is complicated about a x-ray and a band-aid?