A Night To Remember: The Staggering Costs of a Single Hospital Stay Revealed

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No one wants to spend a night in the hospital. For most people, this fear is driven by financial concerns just as much as health concerns.

The average cost of staying in a hospital for just one night in the United States is $3,025, according to the most recent data available from KFF. If your stay extends for multiple days or you have to add on costs for expensive treatments or medications, this figure could quickly snowball into a frightening number.

Read on to learn about the factors that affect the cost of hospital stays and how having insurance can affect the cost of your stay.

Key Facts About Hospital Stays in the United States

Health care data can take a while to be published, but these are the most recently available figures, as sourced from KFF, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, ValuePenguin and Statista.

How Much Does It Cost To Stay in the Hospital?

The national average cost of hospital stays per night is $3,025, but individual states can have dramatically different costs. For example, Mississippi has the lowest cost per night at $1,425, while California averages $4,337 per night.

But just because the average cost in one state is higher or lower than another doesn’t mean it necessarily impacts workers the same way. One way to think about affordability is to consider the cost in terms of hours worked.

According to ValuePenguin’s data on average earnings in each state, New Mexico is less affordable than California when it comes to hospital stays, because it takes the average worker in New Mexico around 581 hours to make enough money to cover the average hospital stay.

On the other end of the scale, Alaska could be considered the most affordable hospital stay, because it only takes the average worker in Alaska around 244 hours to cover the cost of an average hospital stay.

It also depends on the type of treatment required. Minor accidents or non-serious illnesses generally won’t cost as much as a life-saving surgery.

For example, here are average costs for a few hospital procedures:

• Heart valve replacement: $170,000
• Heart bypass: $123,000
• Hip replacement: $40,364
• Knee replacement: $35,000
• Gastric bypass: $25,000

As you can see, it’s not easy to determine what a potential hospital stay might cost without knowing more about the specific condition.

Factors That Affect Hospital Costs

• Medical procedures and treatments
• Room types
• Drugs and medication
• Anesthesia
• Doctor fees
• Specialist fees
• Consultations
• Pre-surgery treatments
• Additional services and facilities
• Non-medical expenses
• Insurance deductibles, co-pays and premiums

What If I Have Insurance?

If you have insurance, then the insurance provider will cover a portion of the hospital fees. However, there’s still a chance that you’ll have to pay for certain costs out of pocket, depending on your treatment options and insurance coverage. Health insurance coverage varies widely by provider and plan, so make sure to understand your coverage.

For example, say you have Medicare Part A. For most people, the monthly premium is $0, but it can be up to $508 per month for non-eligible people.

Each time you are admitted to the hospital in each benefit period, you would pay:

• $1,632 deductible
• $0 for the first 60 days of covered inpatient care
• $408 a day for days 61 to 90
• $816 a day while using your 60 lifetime reserve days
• All costs after day 150.

Medicare provides coverage for the first 60 days, but you’ll have to start making copayments after that.

In addition, Medicare Part A only covers basic hospital services, like:

• General nursing services
• Meals
• Semiprivate room
• Drugs and other supplies as a part of your inpatient treatment
• Some blood transfusions
• Inpatient rehabilitation.

It doesn’t cover:

• Private rooms
• Personal items like razors
• Physician fees, which are usually covered in Medicare Part B.

Final Take

With over 33.5 million people needing to stay in a hospital overnight each year, expensive hospital fees are a huge issue. Most patients require treatment that lasts for several days, and it’s not always clear when you’re admitted how much the stay will end up costing.

To reduce your out-of-pocket costs, obtain health insurance. Employer-sponsored coverage is an option for many people, but ensure that you stay informed about the conditions of coverage and understand what treatments may not be covered.

If you don’t have health insurance provided by your employer, consider buying it on your own. You never know when you might need it, and it could save you thousands of dollars.

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