US government pays hospitals 20% more for reported Covid-19 patients. Government also pays that enhanced rate for uninsured Covid-19 patients-factcheck.org

4/21/2020, “Hospital Payments and the COVID-19 Death Count,” factcheck.org, Angelo Fichera 

(parag. 13): “The government will pay more to hospitals for COVID-19 cases in two senses: 

*By paying an additional 20% on top of traditional Medicare rates for COVID-19 patients during the public health emergency, and 

*by reimbursing hospitals for treating the uninsured patients with the [Covid-19] disease (at that enhanced Medicare rate). 

Both of those provisions stem from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act. [Signed by Trump on March 27, 2020]. 

The CARES Act created the 20% add-on to be paid for Medicare patients with COVID-19. The act further created a $100 billion fund that is being used to financially assist hospitals — a “portion” of which will be “used to reimburse healthcare providers, at Medicare rates, for COVID-related treatment of the uninsured,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services…. 

As for the accuracy of the death toll,…it’s true that some deaths attributed to COVID-19 likely would have occurred regardless of the disease. 

New York City recently added more than 3,700 victims to its death toll to account for presumed cases. The CDC’s national count now makes note of how many cases and deaths were deemed “probable.”… 

The CDC guidance says that officials should report deaths in which the patient tested positive for COVID-19 — or, if a test isn’t available, “if the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty.” It further indicates that if a “definite diagnosis of COVID–19 cannot be made, but it is suspected or likely (e.g., the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID-19 on a death certificate as ‘probable’ or ‘presumed.’””…




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