When they use bundled payments, like what Alex is describing, the amount hospitals are paid for treating patients by Medicare is uniform nationally. It doesn't matter if it's a red or blue state. Doctors in any state make the same, treating patients with the same condition. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services figure out what the average cost of treating a particular type of patient is going to be, and then they set a standardized range that covers it at that amount. This system is great for a number of reasons. The first is that it drastically cuts down on the process, because before, hospitals would have to bill government or insurance for various tests, and it involved a ton more paperwork. As you can imagine, this also left a lot of windows open for people to run unnecessary tests to bill the government for. But with a standardized payment amount, that's not something you can really get away with. Because you're also just given this one payment amount for a condition, you're incentivized to treat people efficiently. And to provide the best possible care so you don't end up in a situation where your treatment is costing a ton more than Medicare or Medicaid covered. By exploring bundled payments, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have managed to cut costs and provide improved care because it cut out a lot of the uncertainty and wiggle room. Also, in terms of COVID-19, there are these bundled payments, because there are for a ton of medical conditions. The amount that they determined it should cost to treat an average COVID-19 patient is $13,000, and the amount they determined that it would be if someone then ends up on a ventilator is $39,000. We've talked about this a bit in the past. Alex's 52,000 number is just him adding those together. Because he thinks that you get 13 for diagnosing them as COVID, then a 39,000 bonus if you put them on a ventilator, which he's just making up. Hospitals aren't paid each day when they have the patients in there. They're not getting paid to diagnose people then getting a bonus when they treat them or whatever. Alex is taking advantage of his audience not knowing how these bundled payments work, which is shitty, but it's also very transparent if you take some time to look into the topic he's covering.