Unfortunately, if it is an emergency room bill - I know its high, but, the truth of the matter is, your are being billed for 3 people, approximately - er or not.
Hospitals average a 35% collection rate for bills, so........................you can figure it out from there.
Stopping malpractice suits won't do the trick - because then, you end up with some really crappy doctors. Some doctors are great - some need to be sued and drummed out of the job. However, what happens with a bad doctor, malpractice insurance pays their bills, the doctor leaves and goes somewhere else, and they get sued again, and again, and again.
What malpractice companies NEED - is a panel in each state, just like they do in teaching hospitals. Every case is looked at, individually, see what went wrong, and why - and, if they find malpractice, then they write a recommendation that allows the patient to sue (in teaching hospitals, they recommend if a doctor or student is reprimanded, given more training or released).
Working in the medical field, I have seen my share of great docs, good docs, mediocre docs, and outright bad, bad, bad doctors. For instance, a patient I had - now, you have to remember that I did home health care and hospice - the very old woman had a very painful situation. She was sent to the hospital to remove her appendix (she was not a dnr, but, she did need 24/7 hour care).
I went with her to the hospital, and waited with her family for the duration of the "simple" surgery. (nothing is really simple, especially when you are on the high side of your 80's). When she came back down - she no longer had her appendix - or her breasts. Oooops. (they felt a little lump, they said, and I still wonder who decided to give a breast exam to an 87 year old woman with an appendix problem in the OR).
In Philadelphia, a man went in to have his foot amputated - diabetic, gangrene. They removed his foot. The wrong one, but, what the heck. I guess the lighting must have been bad, or something, because they couldn't tell the difference between a healthy foot and one that was black, grangene and literally smelled to high heaven from the process.
But, hey, let's stop malpractice suits. Tell me how comfortable you would feel having surgery with one of those doctors I mentioned. With no chance that they could be sued, what would stop hospitals from hiring the cheapest doctors available? And, which ones do you think THAT would be

? And, you wouldn't know until it was too late, because, there would be no records to check.
I hope you are feeling much better, however. I have to agree that the prices for even the most simple meds, in hospitals, are horrendous. During the times I have had to have a hospital stay - I insist on bringing my own with me. (doesn't help in the ER, but it does if you have to stay). You aren't just paying for the pills now, though. Federal regulations say that they have to be handled by a person specialized in meds, who has to make a special trip in to meter out each pill (whether narcotic or not), and that person has to have specialized insurance. So, that, added with the "times 3" factor, makes it much more expensive than it has to be.
The average ER visit, with no extras, just to show up and go in - is about $120 for the bed, and $90.00 for the doc - that's not them doing a thing, mind you, just signing in and seeing your face, and calling the ER doc down into your cubicle. (and they haven't even taken your blood pressure yet).
The health system is definitely making money for someone.
Hope you feel better real soon.
Beth