If he had health insurance, the insurnace company / Blue Cross / HMO would have had agreements with the hospital and medical/surgical providers to SUBSTANTIALLY discount the bills, and would have paid perhaps only 30-50% of what your father is being asked to pay.
The hospitals and docs do that to assure a flow of patients and to assure prompt payment.
But the fact that they do it, and that insurance payments make up the major amount of a medical practice's recipts, suggests one approach, that I think, but can not say with certainty, would work.
You could offer to pay immediately at the same discounted level those bills would have been paid by the most favored insurer. That's a VERY substantial discount from the full "list price". (My guess is the hospital and docs will say "no" to that.)
When he is sued, he might be more successful to use the same argument to defend by saying the discounted price is the "reasonable and customary" price, rather than the list price they are seeking to collect, because the discounted rates are what they recieve on the majority of payments. He could do extensive pre-trial discovery to make them disclose their actual reimbursement rates, and they would likely settle rather than disclose.
My sense is that this whole process could be handled FAR more successfully with help of a lawyer who would not pul any punches about bankruptcy if they can't resolve this favorably. If you don't have the money and fear bankruptcy is needed, SEE A BANKUPTCY LAWYER NOW. Congress is about to change the bankruptcy laws and make it VERY difficult to wipe out bills if he is found capable of possibly able to pay 25% of his debts in the next 3-5 years.
