A 70-year-old man, who is regarded as the longest hospitalized COVID-19 patient from the U.S. city of Seattle received a $1.1 million hospital bill for the coronavirus treatment with nearly 3,000 itemized charges.
Michael Flor, who spent almost two months in hospital fighting the coronavirus has been billed with an enormous $1.12 million bill for his treatment.
On March 4, Flor tested positive for the coronavirus in Swedish Medical Center in Issaquah.
He spent 62 days in the hospital, before making a miraculous recovery and was released on May 6. Flor was deservedly called "the miracle child" as he is the longest hospitalized COVID-19 patient. As ironic as it sounds he is now being dubbed "the million-dollar baby" as medical facility hit him with the 81-page bill for his treatment.
"I opened it and said 'Holy s**t!’" he told The Seattle Times.
According to him, the bill featured nearly 3,000 itemized charges for around 50 days Flor spent in an intensive care room with a special isolation ventilator, which was used for 29 days. The price for the intensive care room was $408,912, while the cost of the ventilator was $82,215.
The Seattle Times reported that "for the two days when Flor's heart, kidneys and lungs were all failing and he was nearest death." It pointed out that doctors spent nearly $100,000 on treatment to save him from death.
The report also said that nearly a quarter of the $1.12 million bill was composed of drug costs.
Flor told local media that he feels guilty for his survival from COVID-19 disease.
"I feel guilty about surviving... Why did I deserve all this? Looking at the incredible cost of it all definitely adds to that survivor's guilt," he said.
"It was a million bucks to save my life, and of course I'd say that's money well-spent," Flor told The Times.
"But I also know I might be the only one saying that," he added.
More than 2 million people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the U.S. According to America's Health Insurance Plans the average cost of the coronavirus treatment in U.S. hospitals is about $30,000.
New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in record numbers swept through more U.S. states, including Florida and Texas on Sunday.
Alabama, Florida and South Carolina reported a record number of new cases for the third day in a row on Saturday, which many state health officials partly attribute to gatherings over the Memorial Day holiday weekend in late May.
The United States is the worst-hit country with 115,436 deaths from 2,074,526 cases. At least 556,606 people have been declared recovered.