Hospitals Aren’t Inflating COVID-19 Death Statistics
The Claim
US hospitals are falsely attributing deaths to COVID-19, so as to acquire more funding.
News posted on
Emerging story
Scott Jensen – former Minnesota state senator and current family physician – was interviewed on Fox News by Laura Ingraham. He said that the department of health had contacted him telling that he needed to report coronavirus as a cause of death, regardless of whether or not lab results have come back positive. He alleged that this is because the hospital receives more money based on every coronavirus diagnosis.
The claim soon spread on social media.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that hospitals don’t really make money off of patients with coronavirus. Jensen is right in that hospitals do receive extra federal funding per case of coronavirus. However, this funding only comes from Medicare, so it only affects two groups: people over 65 and people without insurance (the latter comes from hospital insurance). As such, it’s only applicable if the infect patient receives treatment from the virus, not if they die from it.
Furthermore, there’s no evidence to suggest that hospitals are intentionally inflating death statistics (doing so would lead to a revocation of Medicare). Jensen said that the department of health told him to list coronavirus as a cause of death if he suspected it, not regardless of whether or not he suspected it. This could be because of inadequate testing, an issue that has plagued the US since the beginning of the pandemic.
