This makes no sense to me. I was an auditor that audited hospitals for many years. One thing we audited was bad debts which were the accounts of patients that did not pay their bills. All bad debts were to be treated the same whether they were Medicare, Medicaid, private pay, commercial insurance, etc.
The hospital had to notify the patient in writing three times within 180 days that they owed the bill. At that time they could turn it over to collections. The collection company had to notify the patient also, and I think it was 3 times also. They can then garnish your wages. You should have had plenty of notice that you owed this bill. If you didn’t get any notices, you should call the facility and tell them you were never notified.
This is in the United States. I don’t know where you live.