I'm trying to get my head around this - https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/medicare-hospitals-covid-patients/
No wonder there are conflicting views around the place
Don't know about the specifics of that but for sure of course hospitals understand the more work they do the more money they get. The real question is do they let that influence the treatment they do. Of course.
Yes, that is a problem with the fee-for-service model in the US. But remember, almost any condition that puts you in the ICU in the US is likely to get billed at $30,000/day or more. It was more than that 15 years ago after my wife had an accident, and she was not on a ventilator or subject to any extreme measures, just hooked up to a lot of monitors and with one nurse split with one other patient 24 hours per day. So I'm not surprised at all by those numbers for a Covid diagnosis with ventilator support.
A friend who is an anesthesiologist told me that as a result of Covid they were looking at bankruptcy in 6 months if the hospital stayed on a full-time Covid footing. Why? Because Medicare reimbursements, but in particular Medicaid reimbursements, are at a much lower rate than private insurance and the real money that makes their practice run is private insurance paying for non-urgent surgeries.
When the Medicaid For All proposal gained a lot of traction, they had a study done to see what would happen if all their patients paid at Medicaid rates. The answer was that if they did not reduce salaries of receptionists, nurses, etc, the physicians would earn $15/hr as their best guess.
Mayo Clinic is facing a three billion dollar loss as a result of Covid 19.
https://www.twincities.com/2020/04/10/facing-3b-loss-mayo-clinic-announces-payroll-spending-cuts-for-remainder-of-2020/As far as I can tell from what I read and what I hear from doctor friends, the big effect of Covid is not a financial bonanza, but a major financial stress many parts of the US healthcare system.
The cynical side of me is thinking, however, that the AMA is getting their comeuppance for opposing healthcare reform for 40 years and we, as a nation, are getting our comeuppance for allowing the corporatization of hospitals. But that's for another day. And, within the utterly screwed up system we've built for ourselves in the US, this is going to take a big chunk out of healthcare revenue.
