Covid-19 Survivor Hit With $1.1 Million Hospital Stay Bill

A man who survived the deadly Covid-19 might die of a heart attack after receiving a hefty bill for his 62 days stay in hospital.

Michael Flor was admitted to a hospital in the northwestern city on 4 March, and stayed for 62 days – at one point coming so close to death that nurses held up the phone so his wife and children could say goodbye. The $1.1 million COVID-19 bill almost knocked the man off.

The 70-year-old American man who nearly died of Covid-19 has been billed a heart-stopping $1.1 million (about R18 730 877 in today’s exchange rate) for his hospital expenses, media in the US has reported.

But he recovered and was discharged on 5 May to the cheers of nursing staff – only to receive a 181-page bill totaling $1,122,501.04, he told the newspaper. That includes $9,736 per day for the intensive care room, nearly $409,000 for its transformation into a sterile room for 42 days, $82,000 for the use of a ventilator for 29 days, and nearly $100,000 for two days when his prognosis was life-threatening.

“I had to look at it a number of times… to see if I was seeing it right,”said Flor, a Seattle resident

The good news however is that Flor is covered by Medicare, a government insurance program for the elderly, and should not have to take out his wallet, according to the Times.

Dr. Anne Lipke, a pulmonary and critical-care specialist at Swedish, told the Times that there was a moment when she was surprised that Flor made it through a weekend.

“He was as sick as you can get, with basically every organ system shutting down,” says Lipke.

Flor says the total cost of his treatment will likely be higher, because the bill does not include multiple items, including fees for his skilled nursing facility, dialysis and the doctors who treated him.