More hospitals are tapping into billions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to offset costs for caring for Covid-19 patients.
This spigot of taxpayer money can be directed toward things like workers’ overtime wages and contract labor — the specific costs hospitals have said have drained their budgets this year. As a result, the funds have helped hospitals that are struggling to get by, but also have padded the income of large and wealthy systems that have weathered the pandemic with relatively little financial stress.
Hospitals have increasingly targeted FEMA’s funds after the federal government shut down the program that helped cover the costs of testing, treating, and vaccinating uninsured patients earlier this spring. But now that the main federal Covid bailout fund also is depleted, FEMA’s money has become a top priority.
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