Since folks know that I write this personal finance blog, people have been interested in the financial side of the sudden surprise of my heart attack. While not all of the numbers are in yet, it looks to be less expensive than I thought.
It seems like I often read about people racking up tens of thousands of dollars of medical bills when something serious happens. I wasn’t sure if this would be $10K, $20K, or $40K. My wife and I thought it would be at the higher end of that range.
We got the first few bills in the mail now, and it looks like it will be less than $15K total.
The hospital bill was $7K, of which we have to pay about $5K of. Our insurance deductible is $6.75K, so we haven’t used that all up from 2019 yet. On top of that, the ambulance to get me to the hospital $2.5K (but only $0.5K cost to us, even though it didn’t seem like our deductible was completely used). Additionally, I had a CT Scan that will be billed in 2020 and I’m guessing that will be about $1K. Lastly, my cardio rehab (also 2020) at the hospital gym is $300 per session x 10 sessions. That’s another $3K.
All told, I’m guessing I will pay about $10K of the $15K. I’ll still have headspace in my 2020 deductible – about half of this year’s $6.9K.
The good news is that the CT scan came back very positive and it looks like I am ‘out of the woods’ of additional risk at this point. In the last 4 weeks, I feel like I’ve gotten myself almost up to 100% of my cardio fitness level from before the heart attack. Last week I began running (jogging) on the treadmill for the first time in a long time. Felt good!
What’s the most expensive medical bill you’ve encountered? Was it well covered by insurance?
Image Credit: Pixabay
MrFireStation 
I hate to say “What a bargain!”, but that’s really incredible in this high cost era of healthcare. Next time have your heart attack in January, so you can keep it all on the same deductible! Lol! (Ok, sorry… Please don’t have another! That joke was probably not nearly as funny from your perspective! Just attempting to keep your humor up, as you recover!) 😉
It’s really amazing how expensive healthcare can be. I’m glad yours wasn’t insurmountable…another great reminder for all of us to prepare well financially, not just for retirement, but for healthcare costs and physically as well.
P.S. Keep smiling…you really won the BIG lottery! 🙂
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Thanks, Thom! Yes, I did joke about the poor timing of my heart attack, just 5 days before New Years. I think I had used up exactly $0 of my 2019 deductible to that point!
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Glad to know your are doing well and that the costs were not out of this world. I say that because I’ve heard of people going through cancer treatments that reach into the 100k and above. I had 6 surgeries in 2 years and each time my co-pay was between $100 and $500. Usually, hospital copay is $100 and another $100 per surgeon. One of my surgeries was 12 hours long and required 2 surgeons. Hate to imagine the total cost billed to my insurance. My chemo was $30 copay and after each I had to get a neulasta injection for another $30 copay. Without insurance the neulasta alone would have cost about $7k per injection. Thankful for the insurance we have.
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Yikes – I hope after all of that you are doing well. I always think that medical insurance is the #1 thing early retirees need to think through very well. It’s the biggest financial risk we all will likely face.
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