dollars. The hospital first told me it is 100% covered by my insurance after they talked to my insurance. I did not check with my insurance, and just agreed to the treatment. several years later, I got a bill from the hospital and asked me to pay. I argured with the hospital and got the similar answer as you got. I have tried to bargain down the payment and failed. So I did not pay any to the hospital. Eventually, it comes to a debt collector agency and I kept receiving letters/warning from the agency. I called the agency and explained to them the situation. And finally I wrote a letter to tell the agency that the hospital is at fault: they are at least misleading the patient if not intentionally cheating the patient. I would pursue a legal process with the hospital and if I still receive any letters from debt collector, I would include debt collector as defendent too.
The end result: no more letters, no credit report, and I did not pay anything so far. This happened 6 years ago.