This is what I submitted to the Traverse City (MI) Record-Eagle and the Houston Chronicle (my former and current towns):
"I am writing to you on the subject of hospital reimbursement for Covid-19 cases.
At the start of the pandemic, when there was a lot of confusion and panic, it seemed appropriate to give hospitals extra incentives for…
This is what I submitted to the Traverse City (MI) Record-Eagle and the Houston Chronicle (my former and current towns):
"I am writing to you on the subject of hospital reimbursement for Covid-19 cases.
At the start of the pandemic, when there was a lot of confusion and panic, it seemed appropriate to give hospitals extra incentives for the treatment of patients with Covid-19. However, we are now nearly two years into this pandemic and I feel a one-size-fits-all reimbursement policy is no longer in the best interest of our country or, indeed, the patients.
Now that a lot more is known about Covid-19, treatments are available and the dominant strain is a lot less severe, it is time hospitals were reimbursed on the basis of good outcomes. The payment should be highest if a patient fully recovers, and hospitals most certainly should not have financial incentives for patient deaths. Hospitals should be paid the LEAST if a fully-vaccinated person dies. This type of incentive policy is a lot fairer and would give patients and their family members more confidence in a good outcome.
The ideal solution, to my mind, would be to end state and federal subsidies for Covid-19 altogether, and begin treating it the same as influenza. After all, as SARS-CoV-2 is becoming endemic – a fact that is acknowledged by the CDC itself – it will be no more virulent than the common cold. "
This is what I submitted to the Traverse City (MI) Record-Eagle and the Houston Chronicle (my former and current towns):
"I am writing to you on the subject of hospital reimbursement for Covid-19 cases.
At the start of the pandemic, when there was a lot of confusion and panic, it seemed appropriate to give hospitals extra incentives for the treatment of patients with Covid-19. However, we are now nearly two years into this pandemic and I feel a one-size-fits-all reimbursement policy is no longer in the best interest of our country or, indeed, the patients.
Now that a lot more is known about Covid-19, treatments are available and the dominant strain is a lot less severe, it is time hospitals were reimbursed on the basis of good outcomes. The payment should be highest if a patient fully recovers, and hospitals most certainly should not have financial incentives for patient deaths. Hospitals should be paid the LEAST if a fully-vaccinated person dies. This type of incentive policy is a lot fairer and would give patients and their family members more confidence in a good outcome.
The ideal solution, to my mind, would be to end state and federal subsidies for Covid-19 altogether, and begin treating it the same as influenza. After all, as SARS-CoV-2 is becoming endemic – a fact that is acknowledged by the CDC itself – it will be no more virulent than the common cold. "