Those are list prices I believe. The whole system is screwed up because of insurance. Insurers negotiate discounted rates, so if you have insurance, even if your insurance does not pay anything, you'll still get the group negotiated rate. The price you'll pay will be 1/10 of those numbers.
It's a broken system because for a person who does have insurance, they will really try to charge you the full $30k. But there's a reason for this too. Most people who don't have insurance are too poor to pay anything, and once the hospital has documented that, they can put their costs to a government "uninsured patient" fund.
It's a classic case of government intervention that is well intentioned but misguided and ends up messing up all the economic incentives. There are also a lot of really slimey and manipulative people floating around in the system, exploiting its brokenness.
It's a broken system because for a person who does have insurance, they will really try to charge you the full $30k. But there's a reason for this too. Most people who don't have insurance are too poor to pay anything, and once the hospital has documented that, they can put their costs to a government "uninsured patient" fund.
It's a classic case of government intervention that is well intentioned but misguided and ends up messing up all the economic incentives. There are also a lot of really slimey and manipulative people floating around in the system, exploiting its brokenness.