---
title: "Man Survives Coronavirus, Gets $1.1 Million Hospital Bill"
description: "Michael Flor, who survived a record-setting 62-day hospital stay for the coronavirus, just got hit by a $1.1 million hospital bill."
date: "2020-06-15"
modified: "2020-06-15"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/man-survives-coronavirus-million-hospital-bill"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Medical"
  - "Pathogens"
  - "Viruses"
tags:
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid19"
  - "financial"
  - "medicine"
---

# Man Survives Coronavirus, Gets $1.1 Million Hospital Bill

![Michael Flor, who survived a record-setting 62-day hospital stay for the coronavirus, just got hit by a $1.1 million hospital bill.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/man-survives-coronavirus-million-hospital-bill.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

Michael Flor, a COVID-19 survivor who holds the unfortunate record for the longest hospital stay linked to the pandemic, just got nailed with the bill. And in a horrifying indictment of the for-profit U.S. healthcare system, the hospital charged more than $1 million for his treatment.

The 181-page itemized bill — that's longer than Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" — comes to a total of $1,122,501.04, *[The Seattle Times ](<https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/inspiring-story-of-seattle-mans-coronavirus-survival-comes-with-a-1-1-million-dollar-hospital-bill/>)*[reports](<https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/inspiring-story-of-seattle-mans-coronavirus-survival-comes-with-a-1-1-million-dollar-hospital-bill/>).

Flor likely won't have to actually pay the bill, thanks to insurance and government assistance, but its staggering size helps give a sense of the extraordinary cost and magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the health care system.

The bill reportedly includes over 3,000 items from Flor's 62-day stay at Swedish Medical Center in Issaquah, Washington. Over a third of the bill — $408,912 — is just for room and board in a sealed-off intensive care unit room. Another $82,215 comes from the 29 days that Flor was [intubated with a ventilator](<https://futurism.com/covid-patients-ventilators-dying-study-suggests>).

"I feel guilty about surviving," Flor told *The Seattle Times*. "There's a sense of 'why me?' Why did I deserve all this? Looking at the incredible cost of it all definitely adds to that survivor’s guilt."

With Medicare coverage, Flor would normally be responsible for just $6,000 of the bill, *The Seattle Times* reports. But due to the financial support Congress gave hospitals to help cover COVID-19 expenses, even that small portion might be waived for Flor.

That support, however, raises serious questions about the healthcare system's priorities. *Slate*'s David Lat [wrote last week](<https://slate.com/technology/2020/06/covid-hospital-bill-insurance.html>) that his coronavirus treatment costs were also waived — while cancer patients are still being saddled with devastating bills.

"What you pay as a patient shouldn’t depend, in essence, on whether your disease has a good publicist," Lat wrote.

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)