re: Is the Healthcare/Pharma industry a giant scam?

If it was the hospital doing the demanding, I would suggest go to the business office and demand a copy of each and every letter they sent you in an attempt to collect. Sounds as though they have turned that over to a secondary collector. The secondary collector buys the bad debt for pennies on the dollar and they own the debt and they collect what they can. They are pretty ruthless. I doubt you have much recourse other than legal and that cost you way more than what you owe.