Coronavirus survival comes with a $1.1 million, 181-page price tag

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

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Remember Michael Flor, the longest-hospitalized COVID-19 patient who, when he unexpectedly did not die, was jokingly dubbed “the miracle child?”

Now they can also call him the million-dollar baby.

Flor, 70, who came so close to death in the spring that a night-shift nurse held a phone to his ear while his wife and kids said their final goodbyes, is recovering nicely these days at his home in West Seattle. But he says his heart almost failed a second time when he got the bill from his health care odyssey the other day.

“I opened it and said ‘holy [bleep]!’ “ Flor says.

The total tab for his bout with the coronavirus: $1.1 million. $1,122,501.04, to be exact. All in one bill that’s more like a book because it runs to 181 pages.

 

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The bill is technically an explanation of charges, and because Flor has insurance including Medicare, he won’t have to pay the vast majority of it. In fact because he had COVID-19, and not a different disease, he might not have to pay anything — a quirk of this situation I’ll get to in a minute.

But for now it’s got him and his family and friends marveling at the extreme expense, and bizarre economics, of American health care.

 

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Flor was in Swedish Medical Center in Issaquah with COVID-19 for 62 days, so he knew the bill would be a doozy. He was unconscious for much of his stay, but once near the beginning his wife Elisa Del Rosario remembers him waking up and saying: “You gotta get me out of here, we can’t afford this.”

Just the charge for his room in the intensive care unit was billed at $9,736 per day. Due to the contagious nature of the virus, the room was sealed and could only be entered by medical workers wearing plastic suits and headgear. For 42 days he was in this isolation chamber, for a total charged cost of $408,912.

He also was on a mechanical ventilator for 29 days, with the use of the machine billed at $2,835 per day, for a total of $82,215. About a quarter of the bill is drug costs.

 

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/inspiring-story-of-seattle-mans-coronavirus-survival-comes-with-a-1-1-million-dollar-hospital-bill/

 

 

tfw you can finally say you feel like a million bux.

Edited June 15, 2020 by Burnt Reynolds

[yuna628 9,676]

Imagine what it will additionally cost those survivors that will now need months or years of rehab, lost limbs, dialysis, blind, transplant, and oxygen therapy.

[Dashinka 24,497]

1 hour ago, yuna628 said:

Imagine what it will additionally cost those survivors that will now need months or years of rehab, lost limbs, dialysis, blind, transplant, and oxygen therapy.

Do they all need this?

[yuna628 9,676]

6 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Do they all need this?

I have heard that a large amount of those coming off a vent needing long term recovery care, and even those with milder recovery but some complications needing oxygen, having delirium, and other long-term therapies. Cannot say all, but those that certainly had more serious cases may. https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200513/complications-on-the-road-to-recovery-after-covid

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/13/world/coronavirus-survivors-severe-health-effects-years/

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/articles/icu-recovery.html