The Majority of Americans, Across Party Affiliation, Support Strict Social Distancing
A daily Covid-19 update from Andy Slavitt, former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Let me start here: The Trump Administration is doling out CARES Act money to health care providers. When this happens everyone scrambles for theirs. Some call me to plead their case because those decisions used to be in my court. (They’re not any more.)
The bulk of funding goes to hospitals based on what, COVID patients? No. Financial distress? No. Location? No. Seeing low income patients? Lol. It’s based on revenue.
The logic is that hospitals with the most revenue, lose the most revenue when elective surgeries are cancelled. Yes, and Boeing loses more than a corner dry cleaner when the economy is bad, but you can’t ignore the dry cleaner.
Bad analogy aside, we are worried about the collapse of Medicaid providers, mental health professionals, family medicine, safety net hospitals, and community health centers.
Here is what the Trump Administration says:
Some will note that this does not necessarily add up to the full $100 billion. On that score, some providers will receive further, separate funding , including skilled nursing facilities, dentists, and providers that solely take Medicaid.
What does “not necessarily add up” mean? Sounds like leftover funds — of which Medicaid is a piece of a piece.
When I ran the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services I rarely had people call me outraged over a patient quality problem. But if a formula change negatively impacted someone financially, look out.
Throughout this whole crisis, no one has had to believe a word I say or agree with my opinions. History will be the judge not my contemporaneous account. But all our sins are being laid bare.
More suffering. With most of the loss coming from:
- Nursing homes
- Public housing
- Immigrants we won’t grant status to
- People with disabilities
- Low income communities
