Hospitals Billed $320K for Average Complex COVID Stay

Hospitals billed private insurers an average of $317,810 for a complex COVID-19 hospitalization, according to new data from FAIR Health.

Insurers paid out an average of $98,139 on those claims, which involved intense care like ICU stays or use of a ventilator, according to a press release from the company.

Average charges and payouts for general hospitalizations for COVID-19 were lower, at $74,591 and $33,525, respectively, the company found.

Still, those average payouts are far higher than previous estimates using data from public insurers, at around $23,000 -- making the $5 billion price tag for treating hospitalized unvaccinated patients an underestimate.

Last week, a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that some 287,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations could have been prevented from June through August via vaccination, saving the healthcare system some $5 billion.

That calculation was based on two estimates using Medicare fee-for-service data that put the cost of a COVID hospitalization at $24,033 and $21,752.

"If each of these preventable hospitalizations cost roughly $20,000, on average, that would mean these largely avoidable hospitalizations have already cost billions of dollars since the beginning of June," the report stated.

But using the FAIR Health estimates, costs would far surpass $5 billion.

Another recent report from Kaiser Family Foundation notes that insurers are beginning to reinstate cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatment, and the high expenses raise questions about whether consumers will see a rise in their premiums due to large amounts spent on COVID hospitalizations.

FAIR Health also included data about median costs for complex and general hospitalization, as well as cost information for non-hospitalization encounters for COVID-19. Outpatient charges averaged $2,557 with average payouts of $1,008.

Next month, FAIR Health plans to release a public COVID-19 cost tracker that will enable viewers to sort cost estimates for complex hospitalization, general hospitalization, and non-hospitalization by state.

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