OMG! Four Million Cases of Covid-19 in the USA! (But the Real Number is Probably Half of That)
Posted by Socrates in America, coronavirus, coronavirus and politics, Coronavirus media hysteria, Covid-19, media culture, media hysteria, media-ocracy, Socrates at 12:54 pm | 
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Be skeptical of all Covid-19 statistics.
Did you know that hospitals and nursing homes get significantly more money from the federal government for treating Covid-19 cases than for treating other health cases? Especially if a ventilator is needed (i.e., $13,000 regularly but if the patient goes on a ventilator they get $39,000 per case) [1]. Did you know that different states count Covid-19 cases differently? Did you know that, under the CARES Act (i.e., CARES Act Provider Relief Fund), there’s a giant $175 billion federal government fund that exists to reimburse health care providers for Covid-19 cases? That’s a great, huge incentive for struggling hospitals and nursing homes to list certain non-Covid-19 health issues as “Covid-19” issues, the Hippocratic oath be damned. I don’t think that oath means what it used to mean — just like the words “family” and “morality” don’t mean what they used to mean. Today, a “family” can mean “three lesbians raising a chimp in a filthy apartment in Cleveland.” It ain’t your Daddy’s America is my point. Things have gotten a little loose.
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[1] source of per-patient Covid-19 payment info: Minnesota State Sen. Scott Jensen, who is a doctor, on Fox News, April 8, 2020