Health Equity and the Allocation of COVID-19 Provider Relief Funds.

Abstract

When the COVID-19 pandemic landed in the United States, and particularly once cases began to grow substantially in March, the entire health care system suffered, but the safety net was exceptionally hard hit. The health care safety net, an ill-defined term that encompasses public and some nonprofit hospitals that take care of the poor and uninsured, was on the front lines of taking care of the bulk of individuals who had contracted COVID-19. These hospitals tended to suffer from a lack of adequate supplies and relatively low reimbursement in a system that was already financially weak. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print February 4, 2021: e1-e4. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.306127).