Many uninsured coronavirus patients reportedly don't qualify for Trump's coverage program because of other illnesses

Coronavirus hospital treatment.
(Image credit: MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty Image)

President Trump's stopgap program that covers many medical costs for uninsured coronavirus patients has found favor with some hospital executives, The New York Times reports. Dr. Shareef Elnahal, the chief executive of Newark, New Jersey's, University Hospital called it a "really progressive policy we were really surprised by." The hospital received $8.2 million for treating nearly 800 uninsured COVID-19 patients who accounted for about a third of its coronavirus patients, but the process hasn't been so smooth everywhere.

While New Jersey providers have received $72 million in coronavirus treatment claims, the Times reports, those in New York have received about half that, and the variance continues throughout the U.S. There just doesn't seem to be an explanation as to why. "It's just not clear to me what's going on," said Jennifer Tolbert, director of state health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.