Ahn Jae-wook Says His U.S. Brain Hemorrhage Surgery Cost 500 Million Won

Actor Ahn Jae-wook said that during a trip to the United States, he suffered a brain hemorrhage, underwent life-or-death surgery, and was billed 500 million won in medical costs.

On the June 15 broadcast of tvN STORY's program "Namgyeoseo Mwohage," actor Ahn Jae-wook revealed the enormous hospital bill he received in the United States.

Lee Young-ja reflected on how moving it was to see her close friend Ahn Jae-wook get married and become both a husband and a father. She recalled the crisis he went through 13 years earlier, saying, "I had a fear that this day might never come. Something major had happened. I wondered whether today's life for Ahn Jae-wook as a father and husband would have existed. No one knows tomorrow." Her remarks looked back on the time Ahn collapsed from a brain hemorrhage.

When Park Se-ri asked what his symptoms had been like, Ahn explained that it was not a matter of gradually feeling symptoms. "I collapsed all at once," he said. "It was a brain hemorrhage, so a blood vessel had burst. It was not that I usually had headaches or anything like that. It happened in one blow that day. At the moment you collapse, you cannot know, 'This is a brain hemorrhage.' Your neck bends and your body goes limp. I did not see it myself, but they told me my whole body turned pale. Sweat was pouring out of me." He emphasized the danger of a brain hemorrhage, explaining that if the emergency window is missed and no one finds the patient, blood can circulate and harden between the blood vessels, creating a dangerous situation.

Lee asked who had been with him at the time. Ahn replied, "While I was on the phone, someone came up quickly because my condition was so bad. I got a painkiller shot and had imaging done at the hospital, but they said their hospital could not handle it and told me to go to a larger hospital, so I took another ambulance to a bigger hospital."

He continued, "At first, I did not want to tell my parents. I had gone to the United States for what was supposed to be a two-week trip. There was no guarantee about what would happen after I woke up. The hospital said that because I was unmarried, my first-priority guardian was my family, so I should contact my parents. But I asked my manager hyung to pretend to be my father. Then he said, 'Jae-wook, listen without misunderstanding me. I am praying more than anyone that the surgery goes well, but if something goes wrong, how am I supposed to face your parents?' So I contacted my parents."

Lee was shocked and said, "You really were going back and forth between life and death." Ahn answered, "Looking back after time passed, a few years later I met my wife, got married, and had a child. In a way, God was saying there were more people I still had to meet before coming back. It was incredibly fortunate." He let out a sigh of relief as he spoke.

When Park brought up the cost, saying, "I know hospital bills in the United States are no joke," Ahn said, "In the United States, they save you first. Then they bill you later. The scale is completely different. It came out to 500,000 dollars. At the exchange rate then, that was 500 million won. When I heard that amount, I almost collapsed again."

Ahn also explained that the hospital bill was eventually negotiated. "After articles came out about the surgery cost, I spoke with an attorney specializing in medical matters, and I was told that in the United States, when a surgery bill is charged, lawyers and the hospital negotiate and adjust it. Did that negotiation take more than two years? In the end, later on, we settled for something over 100 million won," he said.