Article

2020-06-14 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Coronavirus survivor gets whopping $1.1 million hospital bill

[NYPOST] A 70-year-old Seattle man who nearly died from the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)

...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
got hit with another shock after he recovered: a $1.1 million hospital bill.

Michael Flor was so sick from COVID-19 that his wife and kids called him to say good-bye.

But he managed to pull through while being treated at Swedish Medical Center in Issaquah, the Seattle Times reported.

Then he got the sky-high bill for his care.

"I opened it and said ’holy [bleep]!’" Flor told the paper.

The invoice, totaling an eye-popping $1,122,501.04, ran 181 pages, including $9,736 for his room in the intensive care unit, plus an extra $408,912 because the space had to be sealed off and staff needed to wear full protective gear.

Many of the charges were for the drugs that kept him alive.

Flor has a Medicare Advantage insurance policy that normally covers all charges after the roughly $6,000 deductible, the paper reported.

Special financial regulations enacted by Congress for COVID-19 patients, however, might keep Flor from paying one red cent, the Seattle Times said.

So then the total amount, shocking as it is if one doesn’t think about the level of treatment he needed, isn’t actually meaningful to him.

Flor said he was surprised by his own reaction to beating the coronavirus.

"I feel guilty about surviving," he 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."

Posted by Fred 2020-06-14 00:00|| || Front Page|| [10325 views ] Top

#1 Not surprising. One month hospital bill for my son when he had cancer was nearly 1 million. Thank the gods for insurance. Only a $1200 copay

Posted by DarthVader 2020-06-14 00:11|| 2020-06-14 00:11|| Front Page Top

#2 Medical bills have no connection to reality. What the government/insurers negotiate is reality. Pity the poor uninsured sucker without leverage.

Posted by Knuckles Javimble6283 2020-06-14 00:24|| 2020-06-14 00:24|| Front Page Top

#3 Hospitals and labs (and Doctors) often inflate their bills. The Insurance companies pay them so they can inflate their premiums the next cycle.

Posted by CrazyFool 2020-06-14 00:40|| 2020-06-14 00:40|| Front Page Top

#4 Which reminds me, what'll happen when the bill for the riots comes in?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-06-14 03:22|| 2020-06-14 03:22|| Front Page Top

#5 Hospitals and labs (and Doctors) often inflate their bills.

..cause government refused to pay 'fair market price' (cause you know paying it would balloon up the costs to eat the entire budget and we can't stop talking about free Medicare for everyone if they understood they'd get Caracas healthcare and lifestyle). So they jack up the bill in an effort to make costs.

Posted by Procopius2k 2020-06-14 07:27|| 2020-06-14 07:27|| Front Page Top

#6 There are several reasons the bill is higher with insurance and hospitals.

First, insurance takes a long time to pay. Small doctor offices can take six months or more to see a payment come in. A lot of time the claim is disputed too before it is resolved and payment comes in. Gotta make up money for that gap and man hours spent fighting for it, hence the larger bill.

Also every department in the hospital has to have their own administrative team due to government regulations.
Main hospital: billing, admissions, insurance
Surgeon: billing, admissions, insurance
Anesthesiologist: billing, admissions, insurance
Radiology: billing, admissions, insurance

Having to duplicate the same work that many times means the bill will be multiplied by that many times.

Posted by DarthVader 2020-06-14 09:48|| 2020-06-14 09:48|| Front Page Top

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