The Coronavirus patient with the longest hospital stay has been handed a 181-page-long bill of more than $1.1 million.
Earlier this year Michael Flor, 70, believed he was about to lose his life, but he is now thankfully back on his feet. However, he was given a hospital bill that came up to $1,122,501.04 and was accompanied by a lengthy list of charges.
According to The Seattle Times, Flor remained in the hospital for 62 days. During this time he was mostly unconscious. His wife, Elisa Del Rosario, recalls her husband telling her:
“You gotta get me out of here, we can’t afford this.”
A COVID-19 patient has been charged ALMOST TWICE the price of the most expensive mechanical ventilator available in the market. It was CHEAPER to buy a new one than use the one supplied by the hospital. #AmericaHealthCareFailhttps://t.co/TFf3gJ9axg
— Hermann (@wecke) June 13, 2020
The intensive care charges for his room came up to a whopping $9,736 per day.
Flor was isolated and sealed inside his room. The only people who had access to him were medical staff in full protective gear. He was charged $408,912 in total just for his room. His ventilator, which he used for 29 days cost him $2,835 per day, and the total cost ended up being $82,215. A quarter of his bill went to drug costs, according to The Times.
In the two day period when his kidney, lungs, and heart we all failing, he told The Times that doctors “were throwing everything at me they could think of.” That part is made up of 20 pages and makes up for $100,000 of the total cost. The bill included around 3,000 charges of items, which came up to around 50 for each day.
“I feel guilty about surviving,” Flor said. “There’s a sense of ‘why me?’ Why did I deserve all this? Looking at the incredible cost of it all definitely adds to that survivor’s guilt.”
https://t.co/vtnLKQZVZx this is what's wrong with US healthcare. No where else in the world charges so much, and nowhere else in the world would survival come with a million dollar pricetag. & even if it's a write-off why should a cancer patient be charged millions?
— Jacqueline O Moleski (@JackieOMoleski) June 13, 2020
Thankfully, due to having Medicare and health insurance, Flor will not be responsible for paying most of the charges.
And because he was sick with COVID-19, he might not even have to pay a cent.
More than $100 billion were allocated by Congress to help insurance companies and hospitals during the crisis, in order to urge people to get tested and helped. According to the insurance industry, the pandemic will cost more $500 billion and they have asked Congress to increase funding.
“It was a million bucks to save my life, and of course I’d say that’s money well-spent,” Flor said. “But I also know I might be the only one saying that.”
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