Hospitals often bill 5x-10x actual costs to make up for the "discounts" that insurance companies force upon them. If you're uninsured and get hit by a huge bill, you need to negotiate with the hospital to bring the amount down. Doubly so, because hospitals have lax tracking of costs, and no one really knows how much your visit really cost. More about this from an actual MD: http://truecostofhealthcare.org/hospital_billing