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Hospitals, doctors' offices, suppliers and other health care facilities have now received $51 billion in "advance payments" from Medicare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Thursday. 

The bottom line: Those funds, which act as a loan and have to be repaid, are up from $34 billion earlier this week. CMS has processed 21,000 of the 32,000 requests.

Go deeper: Hospitals are starting to get their coronavirus cash infusion

Medicare's coronavirus loans hit $51 billion

The loans are providing immediate cash to providers in need.

A hospital sign with the Henry Ford Hospital name on it and the hospital building in the background.

Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, a coronavirus hotspot. Photo: Elaine Cromie/Getty Images

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Hospitals, doctors&#x27; offices, suppliers and other health care facilities have now received $51 billion in &quot;advance payments&quot; from Medicare, the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services said Thursday. The bottom line: Those funds, which act as a loan and have to be repaid, are up from $34 billion earlier this week. CMS has processed 21,000 of the 32,000 requests.Go deeper: <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Hospitals are starting to get their coronavirus cash infusion" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/hospitals-starting-to-get-coronavirus-cash-infusion-9a058192-15d9-4c30-bc46-9cca37792ac1.html" data-vars-content-id="d8c95e48-5e00-4d3b-869b-56a830d5f2a9" data-vars-headline="Medicare&#x27;s coronavirus loans hit $51 billion" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/hospitals-starting-to-get-coronavirus-cash-infusion-9a058192-15d9-4c30-bc46-9cca37792ac1.html" target="_self">Hospitals are starting to get their coronavirus cash infusion</a>

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

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After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.