So a couple things. Based on your presentation, I am guessing you are not insured. Most hospitals have an uninsured discount, but also a medicaid pending status.
The hospital is attempting to recuperate costs it spent on you that is otherwise not recoverable. What most people do not understand is under Clinton, hospitals were required to have a single charge master. In other words, the charges for a service can only have one price. That price is meant to cover the entire gambit from people who do not pay all the way to the best insured
Insurance contracts tend to be pegged to Medicare reimbursement. That is to say, 85% - 125% of MC reimbursement which is set by the federal government. The way reimbursement is calculated is the DRG x CF which yields a single dollar amount. All insurance contracts have a contractual write off so that the actual reimbursement has nothing to do with the price of the charge master of the hospital.
In terms of medicaid, the hospital has the right to charge medicaid for one year following the billing if you are Medicaid eligible. The hospital will not make $8,000, but the medicaid rate, which is a very small rate. The other poster who said the hospital may recover $400 is perhaps a little optimistic, perhaps somewhat less than that.
The bottom line is that there is no fraud here. This is what must happen in order for the hospital to cover the costs that are legally required (free care) and keep the lights on and the doors open.
My best advice — get health insurance.
He could negotiate with the business office and probably get that $8,000 knocked way, way down. I also don’t know a hospital that won’t do a payment plan. There is usually no expectation that one pays it all at once. And thus it would never get sent to collections and end up on his credit report. And the hospital would probably end up with more than if he went with the Medicaid fraud suggestion (I’m assuming based on his stated lifestyle that there is no way he qualifies honestly.)
In the end, everyone would win. But that would require some thinking rather than yelling at innocent workers on the phone.