In the United States, a patient hospitalized for two months and cured of Covid-19 received a bill for more than a million dollars.
- Michael Flor, 70, spent 62 days in hospital and received a bill for $1,122,501.04.
- He came very close to death and said goodbye to his wife and children, doctors believing he would not survive.
- Thanks to the aid plan put in place by Congress to deal with the pandemic, he should not have to pay a dollar of reimbursement for his care.
The invoice is 181 pages and the amount is astronomical. Micheal Flor, a 70-year-old American living in Seattle, received a hospital bill exceeding one million dollars — $1,122,501.04 to be exact, or about €880,000 — after spending 62 days at the medical center Swedish Issaquah from Seattle. He was admitted on March 4 and released on May 5.
The guilt of having survived
His heart almost stopped for a second when he saw the amount he had to pay to reimburse medical expenses, he testified to the Seattle Times. Michael Flor thus owes $9,736 per day for the intensive care room, nearly $409,000 for its transformation into a sterile room due to the contagiousness of the coronavirus for 42 days, $82,000 for the use of an artificial respirator for 29 days and $100,000 for the care of the “last chance”, when his vital prognosis was engaged for two days. In total, there are nearly 3,000 itemized charges, or about 50 per day. Upon reading the invoice and these amounts, a feeling of guilt invaded the miracle worker. “I feel guilty for surviving, he confided. There’s a feeling of ‘why me?’ Why did I deserve all this? Watching the incredible cost of it all brings a sense of guilt.”
Michael Flor is a miracle. During his care, he came very close to death, so much so that the nurses handed him the phone to say goodbye to his wife and two children. “He couldn’t be worse off, with virtually every organ system shut down.”, recalls Dr. Anne Lipke, a doctor specializing in pulmonary care and intensive care who took care of him, at the Seattle Times. Finally cured, he left the hospital to the applause of the nursing staff.
Nothing to spend
In fact, this survivor should not have to pay a dollar. Special financial rules have been put in place in the United States to deal with the pandemic and a $100 billion plan aims to help hospitals and insurance companies with the costs of this crisis, in part to encourage people to seek tests and treatments. As a result, Michael Flor should not even have to activate Medicare, the health coverage for seniors, which he benefits from.
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