COVID Hospitalization Costs Add Up!
FAIR Health is an independent nonprofit that collects data for and manages the nation’s largest database of privately billed health insurance claims and is entrusted with Medicare Parts A, B and D claims data for 2013 to the present. “We found the average charge per COVID-19 patient requiring a hospital stay to be $73,300. That charge is the estimated cost for a patient with no health insurance.
Although a local COVID-19 patient who was hospitalized for 141-days at a local Asante hospital generated a $3 million bill, according to FAIR Health, “the average estimated in-network amount per privately insured patient is lower: $38,221”
Whether the bill is $38 thousand or $3 million – both can bankrupt the average American.
And the bills don’t stop there. We still don’t know the effects of long haul COVID, and future healthcare impacts for those dealing with post-infection conditions.
As a large portion of society begins to face debilitating bills associated with COVID treatment and long-haul conditions, there may be a renewed interest in healthcare reform. It’s unfortunate that many can’t see the need until they are directly impacted, but there will be hundreds of thousands impacted by this now. Perhaps this will help move the dial for Medicare for All, or a single-payer option.