This month, executives at Freeman Health System, a three-hospital system based in Joplin, Mo., hired a lobbyist to get what they believe the system deserves: more Covid cash.
Executives wanted to know why Freeman hasn’t gotten more money from the $187 billion pool of taxpayer money that has helped ease the pandemic-related shocks for hospitals, doctors, and other providers. Freeman stated in a lobbying disclosure that it hadn’t been paid from the latest tranche despite “several months of waiting without any explanation from the federal government.”