He was lucky, but what you mention has a lot more to do with being able to afford that level of care.
Didn’t he get much the same treatment as any other burn victim? Was there something in particular in his treatment plan that is only available to the one percent?
The full information on the treatment he received isn’t public, but it sure seems like it was pretty special. First of all, he was treated at a renowned specialty burn treatment facility. Would this have been accessible to the average Joe who’d be limited to an “in-network” hospital for insurance purposes? Second, it’s pretty clear that this specialty facility regarded him as a top-tier VIP, complete with photo-ops with the medical staff. I don’t think there’s much question that they pulled all the stops for him. Sad but true that medical care is not equitable, especially in the US where it’s so heavily commercialized.
I was referring to the abovementioned burn unit, and the speed at which he was able to be treated. Most people I know would not even be able to afford the ambulance.
A “renowned specialty burn treatment facility” with a location in Bakersfield? Just how exclusive can it be?
I know treatment in a hyperbaric chamber is very expensive. It’s used to treat pressure sores and burns
A friend has diabetes and she received treatment for wounds on her feet. It’s been a few years. I recall the treatments lasted for months. It started with the hyperbaric chamber several times a week and then transitioned to regular visits to the wound care clinic.
Leno is old enough for Medicare and he probably has supplemental insurance.
The Grossman Burn Center has multiple locations. Leno was at the one in West Hills, Los Angeles.
He can likely buy the burn center.
Maybe two of them.
And if Leno finds himself short of cash, he could buy the burn center by selling one or two of his 180 exotic cars. His McClaren F1 alone is worth $12 million; his 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400 about $4.2 million. Apparently late-night talk show hosts are paid fairly well.
Leno is well known for being cautious with his incomes.
Yes, he’s mentioned a number of times that he lived on his income from standup and never touched his Tonight Show money. Or I guess he meant he never used it for everyday expenses. I’m sure a great deal of it went into his amazing car collection. It’s not just that the cars are exotic and expensive, some are so rare that there are only one or two in the world. His Chrysler Turbine, for instance, which he got directly from Chrysler, I believe is one of only two in the world that are still roadworthy, out of a total of nine still in existence. His 2010 Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita is one of only two that were ever made. There was a lot of knowledgeable effort, patience, money, and luck involved in amassing his collection, and tremendous loving care bestowed on those cars.
I wonder what plans he’s made for his car collection after his death? Is he planning to set up a museum, perhaps endowed with enough money to sustain itself? I think there were some auto museums (including one in Las Vegas?) that closed with the collections sold off.
I’ve thought about that, too. I’m sure it would be very tempting for various billionaires to try to pick up the whole thing in one fell swoop. It would be far better for Leno to endow a museum instead. I think he might be enlightened and generous enough to maybe do that.
I wonder if he’s already made arrangements to donate to The Petersen Museum.
I doubt there’s a single multimillionaire/billionaire who has the brains and passion to maintain all those cars. A lot of them are not “status” cars.
The great attraction to someone interested in cars who had major big bux to spend is that Leno’s collection is the result of decades of passionate collecting. If it was ever up for auction such a collection would be unique in the world. In fact, probably more than half the cars would, individually on their own, be very much sought after. It’s true that a few are merely just mundane curiosities, but I think the majority of them are real collector’s items.
If he did that, it would nearly triple the size of the museum’s collection, and potentially increase its value by a similar multiplier. And that’s despite the museum already being one of the largest in the world. They’d have build a huge new wing. Leno’s collection is huge!
What I’ve observed when someone builds a world-class collection of anything is that often the collection is auctioned off in pieces, so the set is broken up. That’s ideal, if the goal is get the most money from it, but not ideal if keeping the collection together is desirable.
We had a thread here some years ago that I for the life of me cannot find, but the question was basically “what cars were manufactured as actual production cars by actual car manufacturers that there are no longer any remaining examples?” I don’t know if the question was answered but several people mentioned that Leno has more than one car of which the one in his collection is literally the only extant example remaining.
Actually, anyone who’s seen Jay Leno’s Garage would know that Leno, being the avid car guy and car historian that he is, has set up his garage with all sorts of decor evoking automotive history. Given the size of the collection and the care with which it’s currently displayed, it might be reasonable for any museum taking ownership to just leave it in place, and just make the necessary modifications to turn it into a public museum. Although I think I saw something somewhere suggesting that the garage wasn’t in a particularly great part of town.
Sell the McClaren and use the funds to make it a better part of town. 