Senior Executive at Texas ER Chain Reveals Real Reason For Spike in Coronavirus Cases

Gateway Pundit ^ | 06/30/2020 | Cristina Laila

[SeekAndFind]

The Democrat-media complex has been hammering Texas for its recent spike in Coronavirus cases, blaming Republican Governor Abbott for reopening too early.

Radical Marxist Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo slammed Abbott during a presser on Friday and said, “The harsh truth is that our current infection rate is on pace to overwhelm our hospitals in the very near future. We opened too quickly.”

But what’s really going on in Texas?

A senior executive at a Texas ER chain contacted former NY Times reporter Alex Berenson and revealed the real reason for the spike in Coronavirus ‘cases.’

JB Neiman, a Managing Partner and General Counsel of a Texas-based company that owns 13 free-standing clinics in the state of Texas said he ‘wants people to hear his story as opposed to the mainstream media.’

Neiman explained that in June, his clinics tested over 2,231 patients and saw a COVID-19 positive test rate close to 20% (was 4-6% positive in May).

What are the COVID-19 positive patients experiencing?

Here’s the breakdown:

• The executive pointed out that the “vast majority of the cases are mild to very mild symptoms.”
• More testing kits means they are able to test a broader group of patients.
• Clinically, they’ve had “very few hospital transfers because of COVID.”
• Vast majority of patients are better within 2-3 days and would be described as “having a cold (a mild one at that) or symptoms related to allergies.
• Most patients are given a steroid shot and antibiotics and by the time they have follow-up calls, the patients are no longer experiencing any symptoms.

What is driving people to the ER?

The executive breaks that down:

• Roughly half have been told by their employer to get a test — if they have a sneeze or a cough, their employer tells them to go home and get tested.
• The other half just want to know if they have COVID (some have mild symptoms and some have no symptoms).

What else is going on in the ICU?

Here’s the breakdown:

• The hospital ICUs are filled with really sick people with NON-COVID issues. They didn’t come in earlier because they were scared and now they are SUPER SICK.
• From multiple sources at different hospitals: They have plenty of capacity and no shortage of acute care beds.
• All patients are tested for COVID: “You have some percentage of patients listed as COVID patients who are non COVID symptomatic and that the hospitalization rate is somewhat driven by hospitals taking in their normal patients with other medical issues.”

Discharge planners are being pressured to put COVID as primary diagnosis because it pays significantly better, according to JB Neiman.

JB Neiman concluded: “What we are seeing at our facilities is more of a positive story…You have more people who are testing positive with minimal symptoms. This means the fatality rate is less that commonly reported.”

Wondering what’s really happening in Texas? Here’s the email, from a senior executive at a Texas ER chain that sees thousands of patients a month. He went on the record – a brave move. I’m going to let him speak for himself. (Two tweets of screenshots. Worth reading to the end.) pic.twitter.com/4xuBdTIFIc

— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) June 30, 2020

The media completely ignores the fact that Coronavirus deaths have dropped significantly which is why they are concentrating on the new ‘cases.’

Sunday coronavirus positivity: deaths hit a new low, down to 273. Lowest coronavirus deaths since March 25th per linked data, down nearly 10% from last Sunday. https://t.co/Mb4uw9QkyR

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 28, 2020

As this ER executive clearly explained, the vast majority of new Coronavirus cases are mild to very mild symptoms (or asymptomatic).

[Sequoyah101]

Nope. Insurance does not cover it until I accumulate $7,500 in expenses. I pay for my own insurance and it costs me about $24,000 a year for the two of us. It is only worth anything for a catastrophic event.

[Sequoyah101]

I don’t donate or volunteer.

In 51 years of tax paying I’ve given enough.

[timestax]

[Sequoyah101]

I too had a splitting headache that would not go away or ease but no respiratory problems save for a dry cough for several days BEFORE the fever and chills. Temp was similar, about 99.7 so technically it does not qualify for a fever of interest by the medicos. Started on a Saturday and ended on a Friday.

I went to the doc because I fell pretty hard a few feet just before I got “sick” and wondered if it was associated or if I got too hot. Could not see the doc for over a week and I was better by then. Go figure, by the time you see a doc you are either well or dead. If you go to the ER it could end up the same way but it costs a hell of a lot more.

Doc said he had seen similar three other times the previous week, tested one, negative but he does not have much confidence in the testing either.

Strange goings on. Now it is just down to surviving the summer heat which gets harder every year that passes. I never have liked summer. Can’t hardly get a thing done outdoors since the best I can do is drag along and sweat.

[Black Agnes]

Donating plasma to another human who needs it is not the same as paying taxes.

Sorry you feel that wa y.

[Zhang Fei]

[Nope. Insurance does not cover it until I accumulate $7,500 in expenses. I pay for my own insurance and it costs me about $24,000 a year for the two of us. It is only worth anything for a catastrophic event.]

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You’ll want to check with your health plan, but I believe Congress passed mandatory coverage for coronavirus testing:

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https://www.healthinsurance.org/obamacare/state-and-federal-efforts-to-improve-access-to-covid-19-testing-treatment/#test
[The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R.6201), signed into law on March 17, requires nearly all health plans – including Medicare and Medicaid – to pay for COVID-19 testing, including the lab fees and the fees associated with the doctor’s office, urgent care clinic, or emergency room where the test is administered. For the duration of the COVID-19 emergency period, health plans cannot impose any cost-sharing or prior authorization requirements for COVID-19 testing.

Numerous states had already implemented similar regulations, but states can only regulate fully insured health plans. The federal government had to step in to require self-insured plans to fully cover COVID-19 testing, and to address the issue in the states that hadn’t taken action on their own.

H.R.6201 does not apply to short-term health plans, healthcare sharing ministry plans, or other health plans that aren’t considered minimum essential coverage. But Washington state’s COVID-19 testing requirements (which have been extended through July 3) do apply to short-term health plans, requiring them to cover testing with no cost-sharing, just like other health plans (North Dakota’s bulletin also applies to short-term plans, but it asks, rather than requires, insurers to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing).

Washington state has also expanded the no-cost testing guidelines to include tests for influenza, RSV, norovirus, and other coronaviruses, as long as they’re billed in conjunction with a diagnosis code related to COVID-19. Wyoming is also requiring health insurers to waive the cost of diagnostic testing for influenza and RSV. New Mexico is also requiring insurers to waive cost sharing for influenza and pneumonia texting (and treatment, as described below).]