Hospitals suing patients in a pandemic

Some hospitals have continued to sue patients for unpaid medical bills even amid the pandemic; nearly 200 people have been killed in Gaza as the conflict with Israel escalates.   Tonight's Sentences was written by Gregory Svinovskiy. TOP NEWS Not all hospitals have stopped suing patients in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Community Health Systems Inc., one of the country's largest national hospital systems, has been suing patients for unpaid medical bills throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, even as most mainstream hospitals and many state governments have banned the process. [CNN / Casey Tolan] The 19,000 lawsuits have been a minor part of a financial bonanza for Community Health. After four straight years in the red, the company made a whopping $511 million in profit in 2020, taking in $705 million from the federal CARES Act and state aid packages. Top executives enjoyed millions of dollars in bonus pay. [CNN / Casey Tolan] Community Health is not the only company that made money off lawsuits in the pandemic. In January, Northwell Health, a New York-based chain of hospitals, only stopped the practice after the fallout from a New York Times investigation. [NYT / Brian Rosenthal] Trinitas Hospital is another example. The New Jersey nonprofit teaching hospital generated over $200 million in profit last year but has still filed more than a dozen lawsuits totaling nearly $350,000 since the beginning of the pandemic. [Politico / Sam Sutton] Some medical institutions are taking steps to end predatory billing. The University of Virginia Medical System announced in April that it would cancel a massive backlog of bills and liens dating back to the 1990s. [WP / Jay Hancock] The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is growing more violent Sunday marked the deadliest day of the recent Israeli-Palestinian violence, which continued to escalate over the weekend. Two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed at least 43 Palestinians. The death toll in Gaza is now at almost 200; at least 10 Israelis have been killed by Hamas-fired rockets since last week. [CNN] On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck down a media tower that was home to the Gaza bureaus of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press. Gary Pruitt, chief executive of the AP, said he was "shocked and horrified," calling for Israel to present evidence of a Hamas presence in the building, a demand joined by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. [NYT / Patrick Kingsley, Vivian Yee, Lara Jakes, and David M. Halbfinger] On Sunday, the IDF killed 43 civilians in a series of attacks on an underground network of Hamas tunnels. Israel called those deaths accidental, the result of home collapses due to a shifting of the foundation caused by the airstrikes. [Insider / Bill Bostock] All told, 40 schools and four hospitals in Gaza have been at least partially destroyed by airstrikes, and four high-rise towers have been razed. Electricity is barely operational, and water is becoming more scarce. [Guardian / Oliver Holmes, Bethan McKernan, and Julian Borger] This comes as the United States again blocked a joint United Nations Security Council statement condemning Israel and pushing for a ceasefire. The Biden administration has thus far refrained from taking any public action against Israel, leading to criticism from members of Biden's own party. [Al Jazeera] MISCELLANEOUS The Microsoft Board investigated Bill Gates over allegations he had an affair with an employee 20 years ago. Gates acknowledged the affair but denied that it had any impact on his decision to step down from his spot as director of the company. [CNN / Rob McLean] Covid-19 cases in India are falling for the first time in a month, but the hard work is nowhere near over. The country needs to vaccinate more than 1 billion people and make sure its daily numbers continue to fall. [AP / Krutika Pathi and Aniruddha Ghosal] Eurovision is back — in bubbles. After last year's tournament was canceled due to the pandemic, the event that inspired Rachel McAdams and Will Ferrell to make a feature-length parody film is taking place this week in Rotterdam. [BBC / Steve Holden] US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Denmark this week to talk about Russia and climate change as the Biden administration faces growing pressure to intervene in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [AP / Matthew Lee] Support our journalism Reader contributions help keep Vox and newsletters like Sentences free for all. Support our work from as little as $3. Contribute VERBATIM "Because of the unique nature of this crisis, there are going to be some swings. In a year, they're going to be trivia questions, but right now we're obsessing about them." [Mike Konczal, director of macroeconomic analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, on the economy's erratic recovery from the Covid-19 recession] WATCH THIS   How Los Angeles destroyed a community and built a ballpark on top of it. [YouTube] Read more from Vox   The black box economy   The Supreme Court just took a case that poses a major threat to Roe v. Wade   Mourning my grandmother — and India — from across the ocean   The playing field   The GOP whitewash of the Capitol attack shows the need for a January 6 commission   Facebook Twitter YouTube This email was sent to edwardlorilla1986.paxforex@blogger.com. Manage your email preferences, or unsubscribe to stop receiving all emails from Vox. If you value Vox's unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring contribution. View our Privacy Notice and our Terms of Service. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2021. All rights reserved.