# COVID Hospital costs



## rgp (Jan 31, 2021)

Just heard on 60 minutes [so no link] where a healthy [runner] male was in the hospital for 65 days. He died, and was later sent a bill for just over $ 4,000,000 [4 million] His widow is hoping his insurance will help ?


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## Gaer (Jan 31, 2021)

You're an extremely intelligent man, RGP.  If the man who died were you, what would you advise your wife (widow )to do?
It appears she will just have to declare bankruptsy.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 31, 2021)

I have never, and will never understand the medical costs in the USofA.


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## Kathleen’s Place (Jan 31, 2021)

I’d send them a dollar a month for the rest of my life.


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## Gemma (Jan 31, 2021)

rgp said:


> His widow is hoping his insurance will help ?


The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, has put extra protections in place.  She should inquire if that hospital has sought payment through the CARES Act.  If they do, they cannot bill a patient for the difference.


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## rgp (Feb 1, 2021)

Kathleen’s Place said:


> I’d send them a dollar a month for the rest of my life.




 I do not _know_, but I have heard that,  @ one time anyway was a sufficient attempt to settle a medical or legal debt. I sort of doubt that would apply today ??


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## rgp (Feb 1, 2021)

Gaer said:


> You're an extremely intelligent man, RGP.  If the man who died were you, what would you advise your wife (widow )to do?
> It appears she will just have to declare bankruptsy.




 As much as i hate to say it ...... first & foremost, hire an attorney. Exhaust all reasonable attempts to pay what she can through "programs". But do not give in to the demands , for just as long as she can. {Keep the wolves at bay} as they say. Then frankly, just one day at a time. Keep searching for help/advise. I am not one who agrees with shirking ones responsibility , but this is way outside the box.

BTW, thanks for the compliment...Hope I can live up .......


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## rgp (Feb 1, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> I have never, and will never understand the medical costs in the USofA.




 Greed, plain & simple . IMO there are corrections .... but that would lead to politics, and well.....u-know.


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## Aunt Marg (Feb 1, 2021)

rgp said:


> Greed, plain & simple . IMO there are corrections .... but that would lead to politics, and well.....u-know.


I've heard and read about so many cases where people were handed a bill in the tens, even hundreds of thousands. It's crazy.


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## Gaer (Feb 1, 2021)

If you don't sign a payment arrangement agreement, it's my understanding you can pay them $20 a month forever. They will kick for a few months but they can't sue you because you are paying.  I may be wrong but I think you can do that.


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## StarSong (Feb 1, 2021)

Their insurance company took care of the bills...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-deaths-families-60-minutes-2021-01-31/

*Lauren Thomas*
With cruel isolation and outrageous speed, COVID has become the nation's third leading killer. Cancer and heart disease kill more, but they don't attack entire families at once. In March, Andy Phillips, a Pennsylvania sales executive, went into the hospital as his wife, Trish, and their four children suffered at home.

Colin Phillips: Body aches, migraines, vomiting; everything. And then two days after my dad went in, I went into the hospital.

Scott Pelley: Trish, you had Andy and Colin in the hospital at the same time and you must've thought you could've lost them both?

Trish Phillips: Yeah. And my father-in-law was in the hospital, too.

Scott Pelley: Andy's father?

Trish Phillips: Andy's father passed away from COVID on April 28th.

Scott Pelley: And then Andy passed?

Trish Phillips: May 31st.

Andy Phillips was a six-day-a-week runner.

Scott Pelley: And he passed away at what age?

Trish Phillips: He turned 53 the week before.

*He endured the marathon in the hospital for 65 days. Weeks later, Trish received a hefty envelope in the mail. 

Trish Phillips: It was addressed to Andy. It was an itemized bill from the hospital for about four weeks of his hospital stay.

Scott Pelley: What did it come to?

Trish Phillips: It came to a little over $4 million. 

It was months before she learned that insurance would pay, it was unsettling at the worst time. But her husband's memory helped her through it. *


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## rgp (Feb 1, 2021)

Gaer said:


> If you don't sign a payment arrangement agreement, it's my understanding you can pay them $20 a month forever. They will kick for a few months but they can't sue you because you are paying.  I may be wrong but I think you can do that.




 Actually your reply is a reminder that we all should look into it, and *know for sure *. Hopefully, we will never need it/need to know, but at the time of diagnosis / treatment is _*not *_time to do so.


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## Aneeda72 (Feb 1, 2021)

rgp said:


> Actually your reply is a reminder that we all should look into it, and *know for sure *. Hopefully, we will never need it/need to know, but at the time of diagnosis / treatment is _*not *_time to do so.


Why, if you have to be hospitalized, you have to be hospitalized or choose to die at home.  Either way, it’s a bummer.


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## rgp (Feb 1, 2021)

Aneeda72 said:


> Why, if you have to be hospitalized, you have to be hospitalized or choose to die at home.  Either way, it’s a bummer.




Because in the time of cv19 I just think we should know [for sure] where we stand , as the bills are enormous .

Of course it's a bummer, but hospitals/doctors do not care, they still want to be paid......jmo


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## Aneeda72 (Feb 1, 2021)

rgp said:


> Because in the time of cv19 I just think we should know [for sure] where we stand , as the bills are enormous .
> 
> Of course it's a bummer, but hospitals/doctors do not care, they still want to be paid......jmo


Well, you can’t get blood from a stone so bankruptcy would be the way to go, but of all the things I have to worry about not wasting one second on worrying about this


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## fmdog44 (Feb 1, 2021)

rgp said:


> Just heard on 60 minutes [so no link] where a healthy [runner] male was in the hospital for 65 days. He died, and was later sent a bill for just over $ 4,000,000 [4 million] His widow is hoping his insurance will help ?


I also saw that and the insurance covered it. How many hundreds of thousands of those dead or in hospitals have any means or intentions to pay one dollar? The elderly have little money. The poor have none. The laid off have no means to pay. Business owners have lost everything. I can see the patients being released signing papers of intention to pay millions for their treatments received with a grin on their faces. "Take a check?"


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## rgp (Feb 2, 2021)

fmdog44 said:


> I also saw that and the insurance covered it. How many hundreds of thousands of those dead or in hospitals have any means or intentions to pay one dollar? The elderly have little money. The poor have none. The laid off have no means to pay. Business owners have lost everything. I can see the patients being released signing papers of intention to pay millions for their treatments received with a grin on their faces. "Take a check?"




 I hadn't heard that the insurance company 'stepped-up' . Good to hear, but at $4,000,000 ,how many can they pay for, before going broke ? Then we're all in trouble.

 As has been said, we need to get the cost of medical care down...what was it I heard ? $2.00-3.00 for an aspirin ?


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## StarSong (Feb 2, 2021)

rgp said:


> I hadn't heard that the insurance company 'stepped-up' . Good to hear, but at $4,000,000 ,how many can they pay for, before going broke ? Then we're all in trouble.
> 
> As has been said, we need to get the cost of medical care down...what was it I heard ? $2.00-3.00 for an aspirin ?


They probably negotiated the bill down to 15% - 20% of the billed amount.  Perhaps less.
https://truecostofhealthcare.org/hospitalization/


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