ANelderlymanwhobattledcoronavirus for 62 days at a hospital in the US has been handed over a staggering 181-page bill of $1.1 million (nearly Rs 8 crore). Michael Flor, 70, who became the longest-hospitalised COVID19 patient at Swedish Medical Centerin Issaquah, a city inKing County, Washington State, and survived, knew the bill would be a hefty one but looking at 181- page long bill left him in shock. He came so close to death in the spring that a nurse held a phone to his ear while his wife and kids said their final goodbyes, reports The Seattle Times.

 

 

 

RecoveringathishomeinWest Seattle, Flor saidhisheart almost failed for the second time when he saw the hospital bill. His ICU room was billed at $9,736 per day and the total costcameto$408,912 onlyforhis stay in the ICU. “He also was on a mechanical ventilator for 29 days, with the useofthemachinebilledat$2,835 per day, for a total of $82,215. About a quarter ofthe bill is drug costs,” the report mentioned.

 

For two days when his heart, kidneys and lungs were all failing, the bill was nearly $100,000 asdoctors“were throwing everything at me they could think of,” Flor was quoted as saying. In all, there are nearly 3,000 itemisedhospital charges, about 50 per day. Good news is that since Flor had insurance including Medicare, he won’t have to pay the vast majority of it, the report added. “I feel guilty about surviving. There’sasense of‘why me?’Why did I deserve all this? Looking at the incredible cost of it all definitelyaddstothatsurvivor’sguilt,” Flor said.