...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. |
"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."