Michael Flower, of 70 years, he had already had been in the news by the severity of their disease by contagion of covid-19. His miraculous recovery, after 62 days in the hospital and have been laid off from his wife and children by telephone, had ended with applause from the staff of the Medical Center Swedish Issaquah in Seattle.
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This time, your case will go back to the means for receiving the huge bill amounting to $1.1 million: $1,122,501.04, to be exact, according to published the journal The Seattle Times. “All in a bill that looks more like a book because it has 181 pages,” writes Danny Westneat.
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Flower is recovering well at his home, with his family, in west Seattle. But when he received the account says that his heart almost failed for the second time, reports the journal. “I opened the door and said,’ holy s…‘”.
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The huge bill is a detailed explanation of the costs, treatments, care and medicine, according to the complications she had these days; but it also reflects, “the strange economics of american health care”, coined the digital diary.
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Only the charge for his room in the intensive care unit were $9,736 per day. Due to the contagious nature of the virus, the room was sealed and could only enter the medical workers who wore special costumes. During 42 days he was in that isolation chamber, for a total cost of $408,912. He was also connected to a mechanical ventilator for 29 days, billed at $2,835 per day, for a total of $ 82,215. Around a quarter of the bill corresponds to the cost of the medication, broken down the note.
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“In total, there are nearly 3,000 detailed charges, about 50 per day. In general, hospitals are paid only a portion of the amount billed, as the majority has negotiated discounts with the insurance companies. The charges do not include the two weeks of recovery, which he did in a rehabilitation center,” says The The Seattle Times.
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However, everything is not so terrible to the economy of the family: a Flower has a insurance that includes Medicare, reveals the daily. “In fact, because I had covid-19 -and not a different disease – it is possible that you do not have to pay anything”.
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There are special rules that apply only to covid-19. The Congress appropriated more than $100,000 million to help hospitals and insurance companies to cover the costs of the pandemic, in part to encourage people to seek testing and treatment (including those who do not have insurance).
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The Seattle Times spoke with the wife of Flower, Elisa del Rosario. She commented that her husband was unconscious a great part of his hospitalization, but when he woke up he said to him: “you Have to get me out of here, we can’t afford this.”
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Flower said he is very aware of that someone is paying your bill a million dollarstaxpayers, other customers, insurance, etc “The ‘fears of socialism’ we always have prevented ensuring a complete medical care for all (…). But there are also costs gold-plated here, two times more expensive per capita in any other place in the world”.
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