The pandemic has highlighted racial disparities, with rates of severe illness and death resulting from COVID-19 disproportionately higher among people of color. A recent Health Affairs study explored how federal COVID-19 hospital funding was being distributed to determine whether inequities were being addressed. The study found that hospitals serving a higher share of Black patients received increased funding. However, hospitals with a higher share of Hispanic patients received less funding. The researchers elaborated that a variety of factors likely contributed to this unequal distribution including differences in population insurance coverage, timing of COVID-19 surges, and challenges to the formulas used to calculate hospital relief funding distributions. The complete study can be read here.
Last Updated on November 8, 2021 by Aimed Alliance
