Millions of
Americans are about to lose their health insurance in a pandemic
Wendell
Potter
Americans
are about to learn something horrifying: how irrational it is for health
insurance to be linked to your employment status
Fri 27 Mar
2020 10.26 GMTLast modified on Fri 27 Mar 2020 10.30 GMT
New York
City is now an epicenter of coronavirus COVID-19, the disease caused by the
virus, New York City has reported over 20,000 confirmed cases and 280 deaths.
‘A million or more US workers will lose their
jobs in April alone. Consider what this means for health care in this country.’
The tragic
effects of our battle with the novel coronavirus are seemingly endless. But
arguably the most mind-blowing is this: the very pandemic that threatens to
infect and kill millions is simultaneously causing many to also lose their health
coverage at their gravest time of need.
Here’s how:
the virus has caused a public health crisis so severe that people have been
forced to stay home, causing businesses to shutter and lay off workers. And
with roughly half of Americans getting their health insurance from their
employer, these layoffs mean not only losing their income but also their
medical coverage. In other words, just as our need for medical care skyrockets
in the face of a global pandemic, fewer will have health insurance or be able to
afford it. According to one recent report, the cost of treatment for Covid-19
can run around $35,000. As the patient in the report exclaimed: “I was pretty
sticker-shocked. I personally don’t know anybody who has that kind of money.”
So, how did
we get to such a dire place? Many will sadly lose their jobs over the coming
weeks – with one estimate projecting as many as 30%. And as they do, Americans
are about to learn something horrifying: how irrational and irresponsible it is
for so many to be dependent on employers for health insurance. Take it from me.
I’m a former health insurance executive who once profited from this system.
It’s time for it to stop.
America
needs to finally get out of the business of linking health coverage to job status.
Even in better times, this arrangement was a bad idea from a health
perspective. Most Americans whose families depend on their employers for
coverage are just a layoff away from being uninsured. And now, when many
businesses are shutting down and considering layoffs, it’s a public health
disaster. Across the country we’re seeing reports of layoffs in almost all
industries. As we approach a global recession, some analysts suggest that a
million or more US workers will lose their jobs in April alone. Consider what
this means for health care in this country.
We’ve seen
this before. During the last big recession, researchers at Cornell University
found that 9.3 million Americans lost their health insurance between 2007 and
2009. Why? As people lost work, their employer-provided insurance went away.
During this time, roughly six in 10 Americans who lost their jobs became
uninsured. And this problem compounds itself. If the reason you lost your
health insurance is that you no longer have steady employment, how are you now
going to be able to afford monthly premiums for some other private health care
plan? This problem becomes particularly acute when you consider that premiums
for health plans sold on exchanges are projected to soar, as well, due to
“unexpected Covid-19 costs”.
It’s worth
noting that even in good times, the employer-based model fails to cover enough
of us, with the number of Americans covered through an employer steadily
dropping in general. Since 1999, the percentage of those with job-based coverage
has declined by nine points. And it most certainly will drop like a rock in the
coming weeks and months.
It’s now
clear that this system cannot handle our current reality. With so many
Americans sadly on the verge of unemployment, the number that will lose health
coverage will be crushing. As we rebuild our country’s economic base and
reimagine the roles various industries play in our new future, we must also
begin a difficult conversation about health care. If we’re dependent on jobs in
order to have it, a lot of us will be left out in the cold. And at a time in
our nation’s history where more will need quality care than ever before, the
human cost will simply be too much to bear.
Wendell
Potter, a former vice-president for corporate communications at Cigna, is
president of Business for Medicare for All
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