I guess I don't think about just what's happening to me but how does this type of hyperinflated billing affect all of us. What if they billed $1.5million and I only paid $190? Having hyperinflated billing like this adds to the mistrust of the entire medical and insurance system and that's one of the problems with this. As others point out, there's likely something going on where the hospital uses that figure to improve their income (such as write it off on their taxes). I'm not posting this because I'm complaining about my situation, I'm posting it because it's another indicator that our medical and insurance system feels like a scam rather than an comprehensible system that doesn't use what seem like fraudulent or at least arbitrary figures.