$64,000,000 for a Single COVID Test? ... American Man Receives 'Bombshell Bill'

A COVID-19 testing site in Miami, USA.
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] It has sparked controversy after it was revealed that a hospital in the United States charged a customer approximately 64 million KRW for a COVID-19 test.

On the 30th of last month (local time), the U.S. public radio NPR reported the story of a man in his 30s who received a huge bill for a COVID-19 test. Travis Warner (36), who lives in Texas and runs a business in Dallas, urgently got tested last June to confirm whether he was infected after one of his employees tested positive for COVID-19.

Travis visited the 'Signature Care' emergency center in Louisville, about a 30-minute drive away, and received both a rapid antigen test and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. At the time, he tested negative, but shortly after, he received a bill for $54,000 (approximately 64 million KRW). Including the emergency room fee, the total cost reached $56,384 (about 67 million KRW).

At the time, Travis had personal insurance through a health insurance provider, and the insurer negotiated with the hospital to reduce the test fee and paid the full amount of $16,915 (about 20 million KRW). However, NPR reported, citing health policy experts, that "exorbitant COVID-19 test fees by certain medical providers are a widespread problem with no cap on billing amounts," and described the $54,000 COVID-19 test fee as an astronomical amount.

Currently, COVID-19 vaccinations are free in the U.S., but COVID-19 tests are not. Unlike free testing sites operated by public institutions and non-profit organizations, patients must pay for tests conducted at hospitals. Because of this, the U.S. Congress passed a bill last year requiring insurers to cover customers' COVID-19 test costs. However, the hospital where Travis was tested was not part of the insurer's network, which led to this situation.

NPR explained that the hospital may have exploited this fact to charge outrageous test fees without regard for the insurer or the customer. They also noted that the hospital likely took advantage of insured customers trusting their insurers to cover the costs and thus not paying close attention to the bill amount. NPR added, "Up to 10% of U.S. medical spending is due to overbilling caused by fraud and other issues," and urged customers to carefully review medical bills and verify charges if they seem inappropriate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.