To its credit, UC Davis Medical Center has admitted its mistake. It should not have sent the parents of Scott Hawkins a bill for $29,186 just 10 days after the Sacramento State student was pronounced dead in the emergency room after a beating in his dormitory.

As Sam Stanton reported in Tuesday's Bee, Hawkins' parents were sent the demand for the money, accompanied by a form letter that implied – inaccurately – that they were indigent. Hawkins' father, already grieving the loss of his son, called the experience "devastating and insulting." And UC Davis Medical Center, finding itself in a public relations nightmare, has apologized, suspended the sending of such letters, and launched a review of its billing process.

There is a larger issue here for families, insured and uninsured, than just a clerical error. The issue is the financial predicament of hospitals and emergency rooms and the billing practices that grow out of them.

Here is the major flash point that affects us all: Federal law requires hospital emergency rooms to treat anyone who shows up at their doors. As a result, they are the primary source of care for Americans without health insurance. Because the uninsured have no access to primary care doctors, they often delay their arrival at the ER until their condition has progressed to a more serious stage. The situation has only gotten worse since the economy has melted down. In the capital region, emergency room visits rose by 12 percent in the first six months of 2009, according to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

Channeling the uninsured to ERs, the most expensive venue for receiving medical services, when they should be treated by primary care docs is bad enough. But hospital billing practices add another surreal element to the process.

Many hospitals nationally charge their uninsured patients more than those with coverage provided by private insurers or government, which can negotiate lower prices – although California and a few other large states restrict the sums lower- and moderate-income families can be charged.

While these limits help some patients, anyone who has stared at a hospital bill in disbelief recently has no trouble understanding that it still leaves a difficult burden for families who are uninsured. Hospitals often don't help the situation, with many using billing practices that are at best aggressive, and sometimes abusive. As a result, dozens of class-action lawsuits have been launched against hospitals around the nation.

It's likely the medical center is facing the same kinds of financial challenges as other hospitals around the country. All are under pressure to collect as much as they can.

The Hawkins family got caught up in this morass of cost-shifting by mistake. As the country debates health care reform, this incident serves to draw renewed attention to the cost, both financial and personal, of allowing 46 million of our fellow residents to go without health insurance.

The UC Davis Medical Center has withdrawn the bill; the Hawkins family won't have to pay it. But millions in this country, faced with heartbreaking medical challenges of their own, are handed bills like this every day.

As Hawkins said: "I can't believe this can happen in a civilized country."

Unfortunately, it happens a lot. And it won't change until the health care system does.