Advocates for greater government control of healthcare in the United States believe that for-profit healthcare is inferior to nonprofit/government healthcare. Indeed, it is claimed that a “push for profits” is largely responsible for the many deaths that occurred throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. However, drawing on cell phone location data, Melo finds the following:
For-profit facilities implemented isolation measures that were less restrictive than nonprofit /government facilities.
More restrictive isolation measures implemented at nonprofit/government facilities are predictive of fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths but substantially more non-COVID deaths during and after the pandemic.
Nonprofit/government facilities experienced a higher number of total deaths than did for-profit facilities during the pandemic.
