Ok, I should not have said ALL studies since I am not a professional expert and probably haven't read ALL of them. I didn't realize we are playing word games here.
I have read several studies concluding vaccination also makes sense for teenagers, and didn't find a single - reliable - study that proves vaccination does more harm than good. Again: I am not saying side effects are a hoax. But it seems the benefits outweigh the risks.
Here's an example:
https://answers.childrenshospital.org/covid-19-vaccination-teens/
And for your second point: it might be that hospitals in US had an incentive to report Covid and that the numbers are not correct. I can't be bothered to look into that. Several European countries that are very similar to US in relevant areas experienced the exact same pressure on their hospitals. So even if there was an effect, it didn't matter for the bigger picture.
2/3 of the Hospitals in the United States were paid a subsidy (incentive pay) only for patients on
Medicare. Most of the incentives/subsidies occurred in the
"treatments" of Covid patients...
not deaths.
An
analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation looked at
average Medicare payments for hospital admissions for the existing diagnosis-related groups and noted that the “average Medicare payment for respiratory infections and inflammations with major comorbidities or complications in 2017 … was $13,297. For more severe hospitalizations, we use the average Medicare payment for a respiratory system diagnosis with ventilator support for greater than 96 hours, which was $40,218.”
It is true, however, that the government will pay more to hospitals for COVID-19 cases in two senses: By paying an additional 20% on top of traditional Medicare rates for COVID-19 patients during the public health emergency, and by reimbursing hospitals for treating the uninsured patients with the disease (at that enhanced Medicare rate).
On the flip side, there were hospitals given financial incentives for achieving pre-set health outcome targets. Simply, hospitals were paid a subsidy/incentive for patients who survived their severe Covid infection that resulted in hospitalization.
A critical aspect not discussed enough, our healthcare system almost collapsed during the Pandemic if it were not for those financial incentives, especially in rural communities. Imagine a farmer not being able to breathe because the farmer had COVID-19 pneumonia and the ambulance is not able to take the farmer to a nearby local hospital because it is closed due to financial reasons...the ambulance must then drive an additional hour to the next hospital for your emergency healthcare.
The above was not an uncommon scenario during the Pandemic. Many patients had to be flown by helicopters to the next city for Covid treatment. The local hospital did not have the resources/beds to treat the COVID-19 patient because that local hospital lacked the funds...
I lost a friend in South Dakota who died en route by a medivac helicopter on her way to a hospital in another city because her local hospital did not have the resources due to financial reasons to treat her Covid Pneumonia.
Further, it was not uncommon to see Covid patients in beds in the halls of U.S. hospitals because the hospital didn't have enough beds/rooms to treat Covid patients...they didn't have the financial resources to get beds, purchase more PPE equipment for their Doctors/Nurses and other medical personnel.
Also, there was a further ripple impact. Early in the Pandemic, travel nurses/doctors were contracted often at rates 3 - 10x their normal pay because of a shortage in 2020...that in itself put a huge financial strain on our hospitals.
Compared to other countries, there are fewer hospital beds in the U.S. per 1,000 people. The U.S. has 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 compared to 3.2 in Italy, 6.1 in France, and 12.0 in South Korea, and 2.5 in Canada...countries I followed closely during the Pandemic.
The lack of beds in the United States in comparison to other countries was mainly due to financial reasons. The U.S. government needed to act fast for those on Medicare by giving hospitals financial incentives to catch up with the rest of the global western governments.
I bolded Canada above in red because it was an
exception. After all, Canada's Covid performance was much better than the United States even though Canada has fewer beds per 1,000 people. The reason for Canada's outstanding performance against Covid in comparison to the United States...
Canada's social welfare healthcare system allows hospitals to quickly share medical resources. Further, every citizen & legal resident in Canada has 100% healthcare for free. Also, the two heaviest hit provinces with Covid...Ontario and Quebec provide free basic healthcare to undocumented migrants...migrant Covid treatments and Covid deaths were on par with that of a Canadian citizen...resulting in less pressure on the healthcare system.
Healthcare for All is Canada's philosophy.
In contrast, there are +30 million uninsured Americans who did not have healthcare during the Pandemic...putting more pressure on the U.S. healthcare system to treat them for Covid illnesses.
What did Hospitals in the United States primarily do with those financial incentives?
Underwriting medical research and health professions education, and subsidizing high-cost, essential health services...becoming better prepared for the next Pandemic to prevent the financial nightmare that we saw during the Covid Pandemic.
wrbtrader
