We have a huge problem with the cost of health care and prescription medications in the United States. While some people suffer and even die because they can't afford the treatments they need, others avoid going to the hospital even in cases of emergency. The reason? They're worried about how the exorbitant costs of a hospital bill would ruin them financially.
One Seattle man's battle with the coronavirus is further proof of the outrageous costs of going to the hospital, even when it's for lifesaving treatments. Michael Flor recently recovered from COVID-19. He had a rough go with the illness, spending 62 days in the hospital. His case was almost deadly, but luckily he recovered. When he finally left the hospital, the staff cheered for him as he was wheeled outside.
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While his recovery should have him breathing a bit easier, that wasn't the case when he received his bill, which was for a whopping $1.1 million! That's a hefty bill for a trip to the hospital that he would have died without making.
We know that going to the hospital can be extremely costly. We also know that recovering from COVID-19 can be a tough uphill battle. Most who have gotten severely sick and then recovered likely don't even think about what they'll have to pay until those bills start to come in, especially for those who had very close calls.
Michael definitely had a severe case of COVID-19, as reported by the Seattle Times. He spent 62 days in the Swedish Medical Center in Issaquah, Washington. During that time, he was in a sealed room in the intensive care unit to protect others at the hospital. He was also on a ventilator for 29 days.
It was very touch-and-go for a while. Michael's heart, kidneys, and liver were all failing at certain points during his battle with the illness. At one point, a nurse even held a phone up to his ear so his wife could say goodbye to him — that's how bad his condition got.
Finally, after his long hospital stay, Michael recovered. It was a huge relief. Then he got his hospital bill. "I opened it and said 'holy [bleep]!'" he told The Seattle Times. The bill was huge — literally. It was 181 pages, detailing all of his treatments, each of which had pretty massive price tags.
The details of the bill included a day fee of $9,736, which alone totaled $408,912. Then there were charges for the ICU room, various drugs, the ventilator, and more. There were about 3,000 itemized charges in all, and the total bill was for $1,122,501.04.
While it's incredibly shocking to get a bill like that after undergoing lifesaving treatments that certainly aren't optional, Michael is lucky in more ways than one. He has Medicare and Medicare Advantage insurance through Kaiser Permanente. That insurance is going to pay for most of the bill.
Thanks to an emergency funding bill from Congress, he likely won't have to pay most of what's left over, either. And Michael certainly recognizes his good fortune, since not everyone has quality health insurance. "It was a million bucks to save my life, and of course I'd say that's money well-spent," he says. "But I also know I might be the only one saying that."
Still, while some Americans pay big chunks of their paycheck for health insurance each month, they're often stunned to find that their insurance doesn't cover a lot of important procedures or necessary treatments. It's not uncommon for patients to find themselves in disputes with insurance companies over billing issues. Chances are, we're going to be hearing a lot about the massive bills coming out of the coronavirus pandemic.
That's especially true because many Americans don't have health insurance at all, and because health care costs have been rising in recent years. With whopping hospital costs like this, it's hard to imagine how almost anyone without really great insurance could afford to pay their COVID-19 bill. While in so many other countries, going to the hospital doesn't bankrupt you — because universal health care exists — the US is a bit of an outlier.
Like so many other things, perhaps the pandemic will help to shine a light on our country's health care problem. The fact is, everyone deserves lifesaving treatments and to be able to take care of themselves in general. Having to lose just about everything in order to survive is a pretty big price to pay.
