Federal law says uninsured COVID patients should be treated for free. Why did Orlando Health tell CJ
Federal law says uninsured COVID patients should be treated for free. Why did Orlando Health tell CJ Vogl he owed $29,000?
When CJ Vogl awoke at 2 a.m. in his Charleston, South Carolina, Airbnb with a strange feeling in his chest and stomach, he assumed his acid reflux was acting up. But then he threw up and he kept throwing up, retching to the point of near delirium, he says. He tried to sleep off his worsening sickness, but when his girlfriend also began experiencing flu-like symptoms, they feared the worst.
They'd both received their second Moderna vaccine a week or so earlier, says Vogl, 25. But that didn't stave off the Delta variant tearing through Florida in mid-August, infecting more than 20,000 people a day. So on Sunday, Aug. 22, their weekend getaway ended with a painful six-hour drive home to Orlando.
By Wednesday, Vogl was struggling to take deep breaths, and an over-the-counter pulse oximeter showed his blood-oxygen level at 87 percent, which is considered low. He checked into the Orlando Health's Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he spent the next five nights. The care was excellent, he says. But Vogl, who doesn't have health insurance, was worried about the bill.
When his Orlando Health patient portal said he owed only $100, he called ORMC's billing department to see if that was correct.
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https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/federal-law-says-uninsured-covid-patients-should-be-treated-for-free-why-did-orlando-health-tell-cj-vogl-he-owed-29000/Content?oid=30090901