Total Cost of Her COVID-19 Treatment: $34,927.43 | Time

I expect there are going to be so many stories like this.

Over the next several days, Askini saw her temperature spike and drop dangerously, and she developed a cough that gurgled because of all the liquid in her lungs. After two more trips to the ER that week, Askini was given a final test on the seventh day of her illness, and once doctors helped manage her flu and pneumonia symptoms, they again sent her home to recover. She waited another three days for a lab to process her test, and at last she had a diagnosis: COVID-19.

A few days later, Askini got the bills for her testing and treatment: $34,927.43. “I was pretty sticker-shocked,” she says. “I personally don’t know anybody who has that kind of money.”

I've been pondering if THE PANDEMIC may end up causing American's to rethink how our medical system works. We spend more on medical services than any other country in the world, and we don't have tests, and hospitals don't have protective equipment. It seems impossible to me that we will get on the other side of THE PANDEMIC and still be able to claim, with any sort of credibility, that we have the world's best healthcare system. I've been skeptical of the ability for us to make significant changes to our healthcare system. It would require so much structural change that it seems impossible. But perhaps this experience will either galvanize opinions, or cause so much hardship that it becomes a mandate.