I do believe you. I've been in that situation... The problem is, the reason hospital bills are so high is because of corruption. Its legit corruption. While I was having dialysis, the technician explained a lot about the companies that sell the equipment, and how every little thing was mandated by policy and cost several thousand percent more than it does in other countries. Its specifically because competition is not allowed in hospital supplies. Our government typically favors duopolies, not an open free market, and in the case of hospitals the specific things they purchase is mandated in a centrally planned way. And I think he got in trouble for talking about it, because on subsequent dialysis sessions I asked for more information and he clammed up.

Another thing is the ambulance ride. Being in an ambulance for any amount of time costs thousands of dollars. They billed me about $5k for a 5 minute ambulance ride, and that was before a the covid inflation, and with Obama's healthcare... Thing. Its like pretend free market. There's no good reason for that. Hospitals charge that because they can. Expenses don't add up to that. And they get away with it because the politics is just pure corruption.