COVID FUNERAL ASSISTANCE STUMBLES ON DATA PROBLEMS — More than 200,000 people have sought federal assistance with funeral expenses for coronavirus victims in the their families, but many can’t collect because their family members’ death certificates do not list Covid-19, two senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the situation tell Erin Banco. Eligibility under this FEMA program is limited to those who have death certificates stating that their family member’s death was caused by, “may have been caused by” or “was likely a result of” Covid-19 or Covid-19-like symptoms. That excludes thousands of Americans who died early in the pandemic, when doctors were still learning how to diagnose the disease and testing to confirm cases was limited. FEMA rolled out the $2 billion pandemic funeral assistance program last month, modeling it on similar efforts after major hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. The funding came from a $2.3 trillion spending package that former President Donald Trump signed in December 2020, making it the largest funeral assistance program FEMA has ever handled. “It’s not like I can go back and test them now,” Priya Banerjee, a forensic pathologist with experience handling Covid-19 cases, said of deceased Covid patients. “I wouldn’t amend [death certificates] unless I had proof.” But such hesitancy from doctors and medical examiners will likely delay or significantly limit the ability of these early patients’ families to receive FEMA assistance, Erin writes — and it could also raise questions about how the agency will ensure people get the money they are entitled to while preventing fraud. A FEMA spokesperson said that the agency’s current requirements for financial assistance amount to an “interim policy.” BECERRA DOWNPLAYS MIGRANT KIDS’ ‘TRAUMA’ — Becerra on Monday disputed recent reports of subpar conditions and depression among the thousands of unaccompanied migrant children now housed in emergency shelters, telling reporters while they may feel “stressed,” “I doubt that any of the children in these facilities would tell any one of us that what they’re experiencing now is any more traumatic than they experienced while trying to get here.” “I’d love to see the kids that folks are saying are having traumatic experiences at any of these sites,” he added during the call, which he made after visiting several shelters. Advocates for migrant children say that’s exactly what they’re seeing. Leecia Welch, who’s part of a team that’s interviewed more than 100 kids in emergency shelters, previously described reports of desperation and talk of self-harm. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) said she had “great concern” about the mental health of kids held at an army base she toured last week. That shelter, Ft. Bliss near El Paso, Texas, has housed hundreds of children in soft-sided tents for more than a month. Asked about Becerra’s comments, Welch told PULSE she was saddened by his efforts to “normalize” conditions that fall below those required for state-licensed facilities. “Our standard for these sites, which are getting hundreds of millions of dollars, cannot be that kids are better off than they were on their perilous journeys to our country,” she said. Welch also questioned Becerra’s characterization elsewhere on the call that those in emergency shelters are “getting to sleep in a bed,” saying they’re more like flimsy bunk-style cots that she’d seen collapse in on each other. REPUBLICANS RAMP UP MEDICARE TRUST FUND WATCH — Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo and Texas Rep. Kevin Brady , the top Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, respectively, turned up the heat on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday over a delayed report on the health of Medicare’s trust fund, Susannah Luthi writes. It’s not clear when this year’s report will come out. It’s due by April each year, although government actuaries haven’t made that deadline in more than a decade. In a letter , Crapo and Brady channeled the concerns of some in Washington that the trust fund could be running dangerously low and become insolvent before 2026, and demanded that Yellen release a projection “as soon as possible.” The Medicare fund has worried health care experts for months. Last year’s report didn’t account for the coronavirus, but warned that the pandemic could accelerate the fund’s depletion. The Trump administration also drew from the fund to give billions to hard-hit doctors and hospitals early in the pandemic, Susannah writes. | 
