In another email, a News 8 viewer said, regarding a friend's relative's passing from cancer: "When they [the family] received the death certificate, the death was listed from COVID-19. When they questioned the hospital about it, the hospital told them that this is what they were told to do because the hospital gets $37,000 per COVID-19 death. How often is this happening?"
News 8 can verify that hospitals do get paid more for COVID-19 related cases. A provision in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or CARES Act pays an additional 20% on top of traditional Medicare rates during the public health emergency.}