Why?
A relative had meningitis in August 2010, which resulted in a stroke while being treated. By the time the next year rolled around, he had racked up a $450,000 hospital bill.
I'm pretty sure the $450,000 figure has been inflated several times as the story has been passed along.
I had a contractor working on a job and his wife had to have her spleen removed. He didn't have insurance and after talking with the hospital he paid about $20,000 on a payment schedule.
No, I received the bill. Medicare only paid about 15% of that bill. And they wrote off the rest. And that's one of the things that's wrong with medicine today. The old antitrust laws should apply that they can't charge a different rate for the same service.