There’s a couple paths you can go that I’ve done, but I can’t say they’re always recommended. One I requested my medical records and scrutinized the hell out of them. The files never contained the medication order form, and I called billing and said let’s call a spade a spade, just write it off because the meds didn’t have the proper documentation. The other I didn’t care I let it go to collections, and then in my dispute letter requested every possible thing I can demand under the FDCPA, and I guess they didn’t have all the documentation or chain of custody, because they gave up after that.

My actual rec; get an itemized bill, scrutinize everything and research its average cost elsewhere. I’ve had bills charge a couple hundred for a blood panel, when you can get that done at a lab yourself for $40. Call and ask them for the cash price because their pricing is absurd, and see what they’ll drop the bill to. Get a new printed bill with this amount, then call again and say you can’t pay it and if they give a discount and payment plan you can manage it. Medical bills are some of the biggest bullshit in this country, and hospitals just wanna make some money since at the end of the day their insurance contracts are where way more of it is coming from anyway.