YORK, Pa. — Barry Stein was in the hospital for 14 weeks with COVID-19 in March of 2020.
The last thing on his and his family’s mind was the hospital charges they would be dealing with after.
“I think it was closer to the end of the year before we saw the full amount that was the cost of his full treatment," said Susan and Barry Stein.
The full amount of the bill was $1.2 million.
"It’s shocking," said Susan Stein.
The Steins said their insurance would have been able to cover about 50% of the costs. Most of the costs they were left with were covered by the Cares Act.
In the end, they only had to pay between $200 and $300 dollars.
They described themselves as lucky.
“We couldn’t have paid that off, and maintained even the smallest reasonable amount of money for retirement. We would’ve needed a payment plan, but it still would’ve very much depleted retirement savings, lifetime retirement savings and we would’ve been paying for the rest of our lives," explained the Steins.
A 2021 report found that Pennsylvania hospitalizations were twice as expensive for patients with COVID-19 compared to patients who were not suffering from COVID-19.
“That number is $53,578 dollars for cases without COVID-19 and cases with COVID-19 were $104,179 dollars," said Barry Buckingham, the Executive Director at the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.
However, experts say the average hospital charge is not necessarily what you will usually have to pay at the end.
“The cost would differ based on the insurance company policies and the benefit structure," said Buckingham.
The report covers the 2020 fiscal year, which ran from October 2019 through September 2020. They hope it can help providers in displaying additional opportunities for quality improvement and cost containment.