Washington, D.C. – As President Trump attempts to dismantle former president Barack Obama's signature healthcare legislation and the United States prepares for its second spike in the coronavirus outbreak with June 24  recording the most confirmed cases ever in a single day nationwide at more than 42,000, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), a Toledo Democrat whose ninth congressional district extends to Cleveland, announced Wednesday $86,960,502 in federal funding from Congress for safety net hospitals across Northern Ohio as a result of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

The funding is being administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, which is distributing $10 billion in Provider Relief Funds to safety net hospitals across the country that serve the nation's most vulnerable citizens, including minorities and the poor.

MetroHealth  Hospital in Cleveland will get $50 million in federal funding, and Universities Hospitals, also in Cleveland, $5 million,  Kaptur said in a press release to Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

University of Toledo Medical Center, Mercy Health St. Charles Hospital ProMedica Bay Park and the Firelands Hospitals in Sandusky will get between five and $10 million each, the University of Toledo specifically getting $10.7 million.

“As our country faces down a once in a century global pandemic, which has and continues to disproportionately hurt our under-served communities and neighbors, it is absolutely vital that our safety net hospitals receive the federal support they need to treat and care for patients,” said Rep. Kaptur, the longest serving woman in Congress. “As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, I fought to secure increased funding for our safety net hospitals and I fully intend to keep up that fight."

The congresswoman said that she is "glad to see this important funding make its way to the people who need it most, our healthcare workers and the people they care for.”

Leaders of hospitals and healthcare providers getting the congressional stimulus monies in Northern Ohio were elated about the federal funding handed out by Congress.

“Hospitals across the country have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the temporary restrictions on a number of procedures and visits, and the University of Toledo Medical Center is no exception,” said UTMC Chief Executive Officer Rick Swaine. “We’re grateful for the support of Congress and the additional resources from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help offset some of the additional expenses and lost revenue as we continue to serve our community and navigate this pandemic.”

The head of MetroHealth, which serves patients in Cuyahoga County, a 29 percent Black county that includes the largely Black and impoverished city of Cleveland, said access to federal funding for hospital resources to address the COVID-19 crisis is crucial to the hospital's survival.

To date there are roughly  9.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, and some 490,000 deaths, 2.56 million of those confirmed cases in the U.S. alone, which has reported more than 126,000 deaths from the pandemic.

Ohio has reported some 46,000 confirmed cases to date, and 2,700 deaths.