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The actual crisis of the coronavirus pandemic and a crisis manufactured by electoral fraud figured largely in President Donald Trump’s misstatements during the final week of the 2020 campaign.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters about the coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room of the White House. Source: Associated Press
Democrat Joe Biden went astray in commerce when he attacked the president’s record in China.
Striving to make the pandemic appear less dire than it is, Trump unsubstantiated allegations that the death toll is inflated by cases of doctors falsifying the cause of death. He presented no evidence for that, and there is strong evidence to the contrary that the death toll attributed to Covid-19 actually underestimates the number of Americans who die from it.
A sample of the political rhetoric of the week:
TRUMP: “You know, our doctors get more money if someone dies from Covid. Do you know it well? I mean, our doctors are very smart people. So what they do is say, ‘I’m sorry, but everyone dies from Covid,’ ”he said yesterday at a rally in Waterford Township, Michigan.
THE FACTS: No, the virus death count hasn’t been exaggerated as doctors lie to get more money. No evidence of such systemic fraud has emerged.
Nearly 230,000 deaths from Covid-19 have been confirmed to date. The actual number is almost certainly higher by a considerable margin.
As of October 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 299,000 more deaths in the United States than would be expected in a normal year. It is certain that some of those deaths were due to Covid-19, how many cannot be known.
It’s true that hospitals can get a larger reimbursement from the government to treat Covid-19 patients. Hospitals received a 20 percent supplement for Medicare patients who tested positive for the virus to cover additional costs of treating the disease, such as purchasing supplies. The higher reimbursements are based on a Covid-19 diagnosis, not the cause of death as Trump said.
The Healthcare Financial Management Association, which works with hospitals on billing matters, says providers should support Covid-19 billing with test results or a doctor’s statement. The organization says hospitals are waiting to be audited for this billing and know that Medicare cheaters may have to pay back three times what they overcharged or even lose access to Medicaid patients.
Susan R. Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, said that Trump’s allegation of the overcount of Covid-19, which he has made multiple times, “is a malicious, outrageous and completely misguided charge.”
