Do hospitals get paid more for COVID-19 patients?

[procon]

1. Charges rise with the level of care needed.

Patients in ICU and CCU beds require significantly more intensive care than a patient in an acute care medical bed. Everyone who is brought in to support that patient adds their fees. Supplies and equipment are charged. Very specialized care, like treating contagious patients, incur even more costs.

Despite getting vaccinated every year, i had the garden variety flu last year. I felt relatively fine except it was a bit hard to breathe.They put me in a negative pressure room and everyone who entered had to pass through an airlock passageway. They wore head to toe PPE and were very careful about following protocols and keeping their checklists. I think the basic room charge was $1700 per day.

COVID 19 patients on ventilators would have been charged much, much more.