politico

There is no doubt that the health care crisis we are facing right now is an emergency. Already, an estimated 9.2 million workers have lost their employer-sponsored insurance, and as many as 35 million people might lose coverage by the end of the crisis. Meanwhile, the cost of hospital treatment for the coronavirus amounts to tens of thousands of dollars, and patients struggling with the disease are desperately worried that they cannot afford treatment or might go bankrupt if they get it. To make matters worse, some of the communities hit hardest by the coronavirus, such as the undocumented, largely do not have any health insurance coverage at all.

Yet, unbelievably, in the midst of this horrific pandemic, Republicans in Congress have only continued their cruel and single-minded focus on repealing the Affordable Care Act. Further, Republican governors, like Greg Abbott in Texas, continue to fight against Medicaid expansion, leaving many of the most vulnerable people in their states desperate and sick.

While almost all Democrats understand the severity of the crisis and the need to act, too many of them are proposing a totally inadequate response that would simply lock in place the dysfunction and waste of our current health care system.

Allowing Medicare to cover out-of-pocket health care expenses during the pandemic isn't just the right thing to do, it's actually less expensive for taxpayers because, unlike COBRA, the government would not be covering the cost of expensive monthly premiums to insurance corporations.

The numbers make this clear. If 35 million Americans lose their employer-provided coverage, as estimated by Health Management Associates, subsidizing premiums to health insurance corporations through COBRA would cost $157 billion over four months, or as much as $472 billion over a year. And even then, these figures don't include the outrageously high deductibles that many people would still have to pay. Meanwhile, the conservative Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that allowing Medicare to cover out-of-pocket expenses for everyone would cost around $150 billion over four months, or only $400 billion over a year. In other words, the Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act provides comprehensive coverage to far more Americans while saving taxpayers money.

The American people deserve a health care response to the pandemic that's simple, easy to understand and doesn't require them to fill out complicated forms or deal with an already stressed bureaucracy in order to receive care. Under this proposal, everyone in the United States, regardless of insurance coverage or immigration status, would be able to walk into a doctor's office to receive the care they need without worrying about the cost.

At a time when many American families are waiting hours in food lines and are often unable to afford groceries, whatever amount of money is left in their pocket must be saved for the basic needs of their families, not exorbitant health care bills. When so many of our people are struggling economically and are terrified by the possibility of becoming sick with the coronavirus, the government must take the burden of health care costs off the backs of working people. The Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act would do just that.