After getting the novel coronavirus this spring, 70-year-old Michael Flor spent 62 days in the hospital and two weeks in a rehabilitation facility.
Following his hospital and rehabilitation stay, he went home and found the bill in the mail. Mr. Flor said the list of charges included treatment for pneumonia and heart and kidney failure. In addition, it included charges for being put on a ventilator twice.
“When you see it in writing and you see your name on it, it was very startling,” Mr. Flor told KRCR.
Mr. Flor has since made a full recovery and only had to cover about $3,000 of the $1.1 million medical bill. Mr. Flor is covered under Medicare, supplemental insurance and Congressional funding that is helping hospitals cover some pandemic-related care.
However, Mr. Flor said he wanted to tell his story because he knows other people are not as lucky and he doesn’t want to see others go into financial ruin because they got sick.
“They’re fighting for their lives and it’s the last thing they need to worry about is, how much is this going to cost?” Mr. Flor said.
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