Medical Economics March 18, 2020
A new study finds that the cost of COVID-19 coronavirus patients may reach more than $20,000.
The March 13 study, from the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation, looked at typical spending for hospital admissions in 2018 for three diagnosis-related groups for pneumonia without complications or comorbidity, pneumonia with complications or comorbidity, and pneumonia with complications and comorbidity among people under the age of 65 with large employer healthcare plans.
The authors found that the average total costs of admissions, which are paid by a combination of the insurance plan and the patient’s out-of-pocket costs, for a patient with pneumonia, major complications, and comorbidity is $20,292. They also note that costs vary widely across the country with...