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Cashing in on COVID-19 billions despite Medicare fraud, millions in settlements
A not-for-profit healthcare giant based in Chicago that’s paid more than $80 million in settlements since 2010 over Medicare and Medicaid fraud and other violations of federal law has received about $2 billion in federal money under a program aimed at giving businesses a boost during the coronavirus pandemic.
CommonSpirit Health has gotten the second-highest amount of federal dollars of any Illinois-based company during the COVID-19 pandemic — $718 million in grants and $1.9 billion in loans, records show.
The only Illinois parent company getting more money under the CARES Act — the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act — was United Airlines.
CommonSpirit is one of a handful of Illinois companies that have gotten emergency funds during the coronavirus pandemic even after paying out millions in recent years to settle federal violations, according to data compiled and analyzed by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit organization focused on government and corporate accountability.
Read the full story by Stephanie Zimmerman here.
News
7:14 a.m. Black health, well-being were struck a brutal double blow by coronavirus, George Floyd death
Well before the resounding cries of “Black Lives Matter,” doctors have known that Black people suffer disproportionately.
As a group, they face countless challenges to good health, among them food, transportation and income. The stress of living with racism has real, physical effects. And they are especially prone to diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases that can be tricky to manage even in normal times.
Then came COVID-19 and George Floyd. It quickly became clear that institutions designed to ensure the two most important things in life — health and safety — had converged to turn against one segment of the population in a brutal blow to Black people’s well-being that has renewed calls for racial justice in all realms, including health care.
“We are exhausted, and we are not OK,” said Dr. Patrice Harris, a psychiatrist who just ended her yearlong term as president of the American Medical Association.
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Analysis & Commentary
7:16 a.m. We can’t fly; we can’t hug; at least let us grin
When my boss asked me to gather thoughts on Alinea’s new novel coronavirus-shaped canapé, conscientious newsman that I am, I suggested heading over right away to try the tidbit. To comment intelligently, I had to first sample the purplish sphere of coconut custard with Szechuan peppercorn, dotted with freeze-dried raspberries that caused some on Instagram to grouse that lives lost to COVID-19 are being mocked by a confection.
Shoe-leather reporting. Direct experience. Can’t beat it.
Alas, time is of the essence. So all I could do is acquaint myself with the thorough treatment by Block Club Chicago, which sadly chose to quote one, count ’em, one disgruntled person, complaining on Instagram.
“This isn’t ok … this isn’t ‘cute.’ This is shameful,” wrote the irked individual.
No, what’s shameful is Donald Trump insisting America’s schools re-open in the fall, pandemic be damned. As is the same people who are willing to sacrifice Grandma to stay behind him now tossing Junior onto the pyre as well. Our nation marinates in humiliation like Hawaiian chicken.
