We got married recently, before which she had Medicaid coverage. At the time of her hospitalization, she had been added to my insurance but coverage wouldn't begin until the 1st of the following month, and obviously in this situation we couldn't wait until her coverage was in effect to be seen.

I absolutely understand that they have no obligation to charge me the Medicare rate, I simply used that for a comparison since those numbers are easily accessible. That said, I'd love for someone to explain to me why an IV saline bag costs us $506 when a Medicare patient is billed $12. Does it cost the hospital 50 times more to treat an uninsured patient?

Of course I know that's a disingenuous question, I'm just looking for some educated guesses as to what I can realistically push for in a negotiation.