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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 goodbye, 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.
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.
originally posted by: MRinder
a reply to: MonkeyFishFrog
Thanks for posting this because it does point out that it's not so much of an insurance company problem as it is the COST of healthcare. Doctors, drug companies, and hospitals charge too damn much. If you go to single payer then I am afraid it will just get worst as the politicians line their pockets and don't address the COST.
originally posted by: vonclod
a reply to: MRinder
If you go to single payer then I am afraid it will just get worst as the politicians line their pockets and don't address the COST.
Oh, got some examples?
originally posted by: interupt42
a reply to: MonkeyFishFrog
one thing is for sure neither the Republican or democratic party is going to fix healthcare
to fix healthcare you have to FIRST fix conflict of interest in politics.
people will continue to be stupid and expect people with conflict of interest to fix healthcare for them.
i look forward to the same discussion in another 30 years.
So much for American exceptionalism, I guess.
originally posted by: JohnnyCanuck
originally posted by: MRinder
a reply to: MonkeyFishFrog
Thanks for posting this because it does point out that it's not so much of an insurance company problem as it is the COST of healthcare. Doctors, drug companies, and hospitals charge too damn much. If you go to single payer then I am afraid it will just get worst as the politicians line their pockets and don't address the COST.
What you're missing is the consternation expressed by the OP, as he is Canadian and to us in the Great Pink North, it's all crazy talk. Along with that is the brainwashing of our dear American cousins to accept the premise "This is America. Universal Health Care is far too complicated for us."
So much for American exceptionalism, I guess.
originally posted by: vonclod
a reply to: JohnnyCanuck
So much for American exceptionalism, I guess.
America seems corrupt from top to bottom, maybe he is right..
It most definitely revolves around the insurance companies.
originally posted by: MonkeyFishFrog
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.
originally posted by: dawnstar
a reply to: MRinder
They probably make up the numbers and no one is really paying them that much. They just write most of it off as a loss and use it to hide just how much profit they are raking in...
originally posted by: JohnnyCanuck
originally posted by: MRinder
a reply to: MonkeyFishFrog
Thanks for posting this because it does point out that it's not so much of an insurance company problem as it is the COST of healthcare. Doctors, drug companies, and hospitals charge too damn much. If you go to single payer then I am afraid it will just get worst as the politicians line their pockets and don't address the COST.
What you're missing is the consternation expressed by the OP, as he is Canadian and to us in the Great Pink North, it's all crazy talk. Along with that is the brainwashing of our dear American cousins to accept the premise "This is America. Universal Health Care is far too complicated for us."
So much for American exceptionalism, I guess.
originally posted by: dawnstar
a reply to: MRinder
They probably make up the numbers and no one is really paying them that much. They just write most of it off as a loss and use it to hide just how much profit they are raking in...