After the joy of being cured of the Covid-19, a 70-year-old American quickly became disillusioned. Why ? He received a 181-page care bill.
Life is priceless, maybe if in the end, if we look at the story of Michael Flor, 70 years old. Hospitalized for two months in Seattle (United States), the survivor had the unpleasant surprise of receiving a bill of 181 pages totaling more than a million dollars, the daily Saturday revealed Seattle Times.
On March 4, he was admitted to the Swedish Issaquah Medical Center in Seattle for 62 days. Fighting death every second, the nurses even organized a telephone meeting one evening with his wife and two children so that the family could say goodbye. Blow of fate, Michael Flor was able to recover and he left the establishment on May 5, "under the cheers of the nursing staff".
But his heart almost stopped when he read, in a long bill of 181 pages, the amount of hospital costs: $ 1,122,501.04 (997,316,747 euros).
This invoice details the treatments administered to him and their price: $ 9,736 (8,651.73 euros) per day for the intensive care room, nearly $ 409,000 (363,451.03 euros) for its transformation into a sterile room due to the contagiousness of the coronavirus for 42 days, 82,000 dollars (72,864.72 euros) for the use of an artificial respirator for 29 days, or 100,000 dollars (88,859.41 euros) for the care of the "last chance", when his vital prognosis had been engaged for two days. Michael Flor, who benefits from Medicare, health coverage for seniors, should not have to take out his wallet, according to the Seattle Times.
In total, there are almost 3,000 detailed charges, or about 50 per day. In general, hospitals are only paid part of the amount they charge, as most have negotiated discounts with insurance companies. The fees do not include the two weeks of convalescence he spent in a rehabilitation center.
"I feel guilty about surviving," he says. There is a feeling of "why me? Why did I deserve this?"
Health, a luxury
Congress has set aside over $ 100 billion to help hospitals and insurance companies cover the costs of the pandemic, in part to encourage people to get tested and treated (including those without 'insurance). As a result, the former patient will likely not have to pay even the costs of his Medicare Advantage policy, which could have amounted to $ 6,000 (5,334.29 euros).
Writer David Lat also received an invoice for $ 320,000 (284,449.15 euros) for his COVID-19 treatment, and also ended up paying nothing. Yet he has heard of dozens of cancer and leukemia patients who were hit by large bills during that same period.
"Suffering from the new coronavirus rather than cancer shouldn't make a difference in terms of financial burden," Lat wrote in Slate. "What you pay as a patient shouldn't depend, in essence, on whether your illness has a good publicist."
"Fears of socialism have always prevented us from ensuring comprehensive health care," said Michael Flor. "Gold-plated costs here are twice as expensive per capita than anywhere else in the world," he added.