You go in for a medical procedure. There are multiple entities that send you a bill, directly to you and also to your insurance. Normal practice seems like it

You go in for a medical procedure. There are multiple entities that send you a bill, directly to you and also to your insurance. Normal practice seems like it is to wait and see what the insurance will cover, and after a reasonable amount of time (and getting a statement of benefits from the insurance), you pay the difference. Meanwhile you've been reported to the credit bureaus, so basically anyone can see that you had a recent medical procedure with potentially to-be-settled balances. A couple years later you start getting calls from collection agents saying you owe money, often times only double-digit values. They hound you till you give in an pay it (after all, how can you verify something that was several years old?). All because when you went to the hospital billing clerk, they can't tell you how much you owe the third-party pharmacy, or the radiologist, or the independent anesthesiologist that bills you at some random time anywhere from 1 month to 3 years later.