Man visiting the US for daughter's wedding given $42,000 medical bill after 'excruciating pain'
Joe Harker
Featured Image Credit: Science Photo Library / Alamy Stock Photo/Sergio Azenha / Alamy Stock Photo
A man who was visiting the US for his daughter's wedding ended up stuck with a $42,000 medical bill after suffering from terrible pain.
When Jay Comfort traveled from Switzerland to the US he was heading from his home back to his country of birth for his daughter's wedding.
According to NPR, the week before the ceremony, Comfort was wracked by 'excruciating pain' and tried to tough it out because of his health insurance situation.
For three hours he put up with the terrible pain before he ended up having to be rushed to hospital in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
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He was rushed into emergency surgery to treat his acute appendicitis and further tests revealed that he had a rare form of cancer, which he'd later have removed when he returned home to Switzerland.
The retired teacher spent about 14 hours in the US hospital in total before he was released, and he was well enough to attend his daughter's wedding.
After the wedding he returned to Switzerland and he got his bill for those 14 hours in hospital in the US, and he was being charged a whopping $42,000 for his stay.
That bill was racked up for his emergency surgery, his scans to discover the cancer, and three hours he spent in the hospital's recovery room.
An American citizen and a resident of Switzerland, Comfort had Swiss health insurance, which had no contract with the US hospital the man was rushed to.
To be more accurate, his total hospital bill came to $42,156.50 and of that he'll get $8,184 knocked off from his health insurance, which according to NPR is about double the cost of the procedure in Switzerland - while they also note that Switzerland has the highest price of medical care in Europe.
That's the disparity at play here, Europe's most expensive healthcare system would charge you about $4,000, while in the US you're looking at something in the region of $40,000 for the same procedure.
While his insurance will cover some of the costs, the retiree will have to find the money for the other $33,972.50 himself.
Comfort has said he's willing to pay his way but is hoping that he can negotiate his total bill down a bit more so he doesn't have to pay quite so much.
He said: "I don't want to try to walk away, saying I don't owe you anything.
"That's not right. We're moral people, you know. But if you're going to try to gouge me and play the power trip and think you're going to try to get everything you can out of me, I won't play that game."
According to a 2022 study about 100 million adults in the US have medical debt, with about 12 percent of those facing bills of $10,000 or more.
The same study found that in 2019 total US medical debt stood at $195 billion.