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Trump spent 3 days in the hospital, receiving multiple drugs and traveling there and back by helicopter.
I estimate his medical care would cost the typically more than $100,000 in the American health system.
Here& #39;s my math (1/11) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/upshot/trump-hospital-costs-coronavirus.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/0...
I estimate his medical care would cost the typically more than $100,000 in the American health system.
Here& #39;s my math (1/11) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/upshot/trump-hospital-costs-coronavirus.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/0...
The bills would typically start with repeated, workplace coronavirus testing.
Insurance companies aren& #39;t required to cover those! Coronavirus tests usually cost about $100 — but I& #39;ve talked to workers with as much as $1400 in medical debt from a test required by work (2/11)
Insurance companies aren& #39;t required to cover those! Coronavirus tests usually cost about $100 — but I& #39;ve talked to workers with as much as $1400 in medical debt from a test required by work (2/11)
Then there is the hospital stay itself. According to @FAIRHealth, the median charge for a coronavirus hospital admission where the patient is over 60 is $61,912.
However — there is a *lot* of variation. A quarter of patients face charges higher than $193,149 (3/11)
However — there is a *lot* of variation. A quarter of patients face charges higher than $193,149 (3/11)
Why is there so much variation? In part because the length of stay can vary a lot from one patient to another — and in part because, like every part of American health care, prices vary tremendously from one place to another. (4/11)
Anyway, back to the math. Conservatively, we& #39;re at about $62,000 between a typically priced coronavirus test and hospital stay.
How do we get from $62,000 to over $100,000? (5/11)
How do we get from $62,000 to over $100,000? (5/11)
Helicopter transit! It is notoriously expensive, and routinely results in massive surprise bills.
@krchhabra has found the median air ambulance flight charge is $38,770. (6/11)
Ok, so here& #39;s where we are on the math
Typical coronavirus test = $100
Median coronavirus hospital stay (inclusive of drugs provided) = $61,000
Two air ambulance flights = $77,000
Total = $138,100
(7/11)
Typical coronavirus test = $100
Median coronavirus hospital stay (inclusive of drugs provided) = $61,000
Two air ambulance flights = $77,000
Total = $138,100
(7/11)
Most Americans do have insurance, which means that that they won& #39;t play the entire bill — and will likely have steep discounts negotiated on their behalf. @FAIRHealth, for example, finds that the negotiated price for a coronavirus hospitalization is about half the charge (8/11)
About 27 million Americans are uninsured. There is a federal program to pay their coronavirus bills — except, as @abbygoodnough has reported, it hasn& #39;t always worked as planned.
Some uninsured patients have received very large bills (9/11) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/Covid-obamacare-uninsured.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/2...
Some uninsured patients have received very large bills (9/11) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/Covid-obamacare-uninsured.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/2...
And even insured patients aren& #39;t immune from big bills when it comes to air ambulances. Turning back to @krchhabra& #39;s work, he finds that 71 percent of air ambulance rides are out-of-network and leave patients with median surprise bills of $21,698 (10/11)
