Last week we shared some data from Kaiser Health. In it, they reported how much states had received per COVID19 case (as of Mid-April). New Hampshire was pegged at 200,000 per incidence. But that struck me as the wrong way to look at it. The grave concern was hospitalizations, so what was the cost for that?
ICYMI: “weaponized hypocrisy.”
After all, the number of reported infections are irrelevant. Well over 90%, perhaps as high as 98% of people who test positive will be asymptomatic or have flu-like symptoms for a few days. The treatment for that is OTC meds from the corner store or a few days home with rest.
If we tested everyone and found that 1 million out of 1.3 million GraniteState’s had COVID19, the number still has no meaning with regard to the hastily fashioned Porkulus the Democrats crammed out of the house, and the president eventually signed. A massive bailout that netted New Hampshire 1.25 billion in relief.
Yes, the “relief” wasn’t just for treating COVID, but in the context of the crisis we were sold, it’s all about COVID19. The political response created the otherwise unrelated layered crisis of unemployment, business destruction, tax revenue reduction, and human suffering (including rising overdose deaths and suicides). None of that would have happened without the use of government force.
Looking at the crisis we got, more damage was done by the reaction that the threat, but the checks were cashed, the debt accumulated, the interest on it is already accruing on the backs of future generations.
What price did we pay?
Using the most recent data, and dividing hospitalization numbers by the bailout total (1.25 Billion divided by 558.) New Hampshire received 2.24 million dollars per hospitalization. That’s 0.04% of the state population.
This is with the understanding that most of these numbers are likely inflated. The CDC and others have admitted that much of the reporting is exaggerated. A feature, as we reported here, of grotesque incentives to call it COVID for cash.
This only means that waste is more significant than we can know but that what we know is already bad.
It’s a feature of government, not a bug; use your vote to take it back. Not the money – that’s gone. We need a recovery plan from the recovery plan, and it does not begin with anyone who had a (D) after their name.
Democrats are driving for longer lockdowns, more bailouts. For as much crap as we’ve given Chris Sununu, the only upside for New Hampshire appears to be that we didn’t have a Democrat governor.
Sorry, and the 2.24 million dollars we ended up with for each of the 558 people who were hospitalized. So, someone got a payday, it just wasn’t taxpayers or their children, or grandchildren, or greatgrandchildren.
And that’s a problem.