Coronavirus survivor is handed $1.6million hospital bill
A US man, 70, who battled coronavirus for two-months has been handed an enormous $1.6million (AUD) hospital bill.
Michael Flor, from Seattle, was hospitalised on March 4 with coronavirus and came so close to death once nurses held a phone to his ear so he could say bye to his family.
Upon his recovery, Mr Flor was released on May 5 amid cheers from healthcare workers.
Not long after leaving the Swedish Medical Center in Issaquah, he was slapped with an 181 page bill for his 62-day stint.
All up, Mr Flor was charged $US1,122,501.04, or roughly $A1,638,000, according to the Seattle Times.
The majority of the bill was attributed to medications, however, Mr Flor’s intensive care unit room cost $9,736 ($A14207) per day.
His time in the isolation chamber cost $US408,912 ($A596,712) and being on a ventilator for 29 days cost $US82,215 ($A119,973).
Fortunately, Mr Flor has health insurance and likely won’t have to pay for the bulk of the bill, or any of it thanks to $100billion set aside by the US government to help hospitals and insurance companies defray the costs of the pandemic.
Mr Flor said he left the hospital with a new appreciation for life.
“You have a second chance at relationships, with your wife, your kids, friends and stuff like that,” Mr Flor told Q13 Fox.
“I feel guilty about surviving,” Mr Flor told the Seattle Times.
“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.”
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Unlike Australia, the US does not have a universal healthcare system and Mr Flor is very much aware his lifesaving treatment will be paid by taxpayers.
However, even while he was battling the illness in hospital, he was concerned with the cost of the care he was receiving.
“You gotta get me out of here, we can’t afford this,” Mr Flor reportedly said to his wife at the start of his stint in hospital.
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