Trump Baselessly Suggests COVID-19 Deaths Inflated for Profit

During a campaign rally in Wisconsin, President Donald Trump questioned the reported numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. by describing a purported “incentive” to report cases and deaths, because “doctors get more money and hospitals get more money.”

Trump’s comments tapped into a months-old, baseless conspiracy theory for which there is no evidence: that COVID-19 deaths have been inflated by hospitals seeking to profit. Multiple experts previously told us that such claims were unfounded.

Trump’s remarks came during an Oct. 24 rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Trump, Oct. 24: If somebody’s terminally ill with cancer, and they have COVID, we report them. And you know, doctors get more money and hospitals get more money. Think of this incentive. So some countries do it differently. If somebody is very sick with a bad heart, they die of COVID, they don’t get reported as COVID. So then