Up to 43m Americans could lose health insurance amid pandemic, report says

[Lock him up.]

Source: The Guardian

As many as 43 million Americans could lose their health insurance in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.

Prior to the pandemic, 160 million Americans, or roughly half the population, received their medical insurance through their job. The tidal wave of layoffs triggered by quarantine measures now threatens that coverage for millions.

Up to 7 million of those people are unlikely to find new insurance as poor economic conditions drag on, researchers at the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation thinktanks predict.

Such enormous insurance losses could dramatically alter America’s healthcare landscape, and will probably result in more deaths as people avoid unaffordable healthcare.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/up-to-43m-americans-could-lose-health-insurance-amid-pandemic-report-says/ar-BB13RtB1?ocid=spartandhp

---

"SO MUCH WINNING YOU'LL BE TIRED OF WINNING" - Orange viRu$ famous con-line

[Locrian]

1. MFA - now.

>>Up to 7 million of those people are unlikely to find new insurance as poor economic conditions drag on, researchers at the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation thinktanks predict.

Are we really having a discussion on how it's "not possible"?

[area51]

13. +1, n/t

[Tribetime]

22. +1,000,000

[LiberalLovinLug]

38. +10,000,000

Gee, if only there was some policy platform that promoted the idea of Medicare, only for all?

If we had a candidate that was for M4A they could have been pointing to this pandemic as ample reasoning to have some kind of national medical insurance for everyone. And coordinated national response ability as a bonus. This is the time to highlight the advantages of a single payer national system. But nothing is said on the topic by our nominee. An opportunity missed.

[Locrian]

41. +1,000

You want something to "energize" people? That would pretty much do it.... landslide.

[Lock him up.]

43. Yes, it should be included in the Biden platform ASAP.

Sadly, traitoR mcturtle will grim-reap any plan passed by the House until Jan. 2021, and millions will go bankrupt until then.

[groundloop]

2. EXACTLY why our current model of employer provided health insurance needs to be replaced

I don't care if it's Medicare For All, Universal Health Care, or some new plan yet to be introduced, we MUST get out of our current model of providing health insurance and take a lesson from all the other civilized countries in the world.

[PSPS]

23. Fun fact: One of the articles we imposed on Iraq after invasion was ... universal health care

[c-rational]

29. Thanks for that info, I did not that.

[End Of The Road]

30. But Iraq had instituted universal health care for all in the 1970's.

We hardly imposed it upon them. More like we let them keep it.

[cstanleytech]

3. What happened to Trump and the Republicans beautiful plan that they had to replace Obamacare with?

You remember? That one they claimed we could only see once Obamacare was abolished? I get the feeling now that Trump and the Republicans plan was really kind of like how a used car salesman might claim that grandma only drove the car he is trying to sell you to the grocery store once a week.
In other words their plan was a complete and utter lie but that is hardly surprising when you consider some of the sources like the Russian assets of Trump and Moscow Mitch.

[Grokenstein]

9. Turns out "shovel ready" meant "dead and buried."

...Which is also the GOP's plan for America.

[Wellstone ruled]

10. Standing in the Wings ready to go.

So many have forgotten we do have their plan or many were fooled into buyer their plan.

Texas based Insurance Company,believe Marvin Bush is their big shot,has been marketing this sucker since 2001. Several States prohibit this sucker to be sold in their confines.

Remember just a dollar a day,yupper,kicker is the deductibles,again depending on the State you reside in,5k-12k per person per claim and only pays 80% on Catastrophic Claims. Beauty Eh!!

[cstanleytech]

11. Well you get what you pay for and in that case what you are getting is a shit sandwich made from

pure unadulterated Republican bullshit.

[Wellstone ruled]

24. Looked for this Insurance thingee

in a box of paperwork from that time frame. Worked with a fellow who sold this crap as a side job after Retiring as a Newspaper Copy Writer. And yes you get what you pay for,but,he was plugged into the Heritage Group that was promoting this as a National Health Insurance Program. Living in Utah at the time,he would show me e-mails he was receiving from the State GOPers pushing this crap.

We came darn close under Cheney's Reign for this being the Public Health Program.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. Biden will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to enact single payer/universal healthcare

And in the midst of this pandemic, the support of the American people will surpass the resistance of the insurance lobby.

[cstanleytech]

8. Unfortunately I do not think he will be able to do that not unless we see a major change to the

Senate and by that I mean we would have to get at least 65 seats or more to secure a strong enough position that the Republicans are unlikely to regain a majority for at least 14 years.
Otherwise they will simply cripple it as soon as they regain the majority.

[Fiendish Thingy]

16. If well crafted M4A legislation is passed and implemented effectively, Republicans won't touch it

It will become off limits like SS and Medicare are now (yes, the GOP would love to make cuts, but they haven’t dared).

Effective universal healthcare will be cherished by all, regardless of party or tribe.

Here in Canada, the Conservatives complain and make rumblings about moving to a public/private two tiered system, but not even Steven Harper dared try to dismantle it.

[cstanleytech]

20. Trust me they would touch it as they have zero ethics and or shame left in them.

[Fiendish Thingy]

33. Trust ME, like I said, Biden will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to pass M4A

As well as a Green New Deal, and other substantive changes.

Momentum will be on our side.

Let’s hope Joe steps up to the challenge.

[Massacure]

46. Medicare for all is not Joe's plan

I read the plan on his campaign website sometime back. The things that stand out are:

1) Subsidizing plans on the ACA using the average price of the gold level plans (80% coverage) instead of silver level plans (80%) coverage.
2) Setting subsidies so that they cap premiums at 8.5% of income instead of the 9.8% it is today
3) Allowing consumers to receive government subsidies even if their employer offers coverage
4) Eliminating the 400% of poverty level income cap to receive subsidies.
5) Creating a government run health option and offering that on the ACA exchanges alongside the plans offered by non-profit/for-profit corporations.

[cstanleytech]

47. Meh I would simply increase the cap from 400% to 1000%.

Anyone earning more than that probably does not need subsidies.

[Massacure]

50. A single person making $130,000 a year isn't spending 8.5% (or 9.8) of their income on premiums

A quick google search just turned up a figure from AARP that the average insurance individual health insurance policy on the private market for someone between age 50 and 64 costs about $6,400. That is 8.5% of $75,000, which is roughly 575% poverty level. Under the existing framework, a purchase would be ineligible for subsidies at about $53,000.

That said, I'll caveat the above by saying that I don't know what the coinsurance is of that average policy above, nor have I ever had a need to look into how subsidies work for families.

[Fiendish Thingy]

49. It may not be his plan now...

But with 43 million more Americans expected to lose health insurance, as well as their jobs in the next 12 months, there may be an un-ignorable demand for substantive change in our healthcare delivery.

Recent polls already show majority support for M4A and overwhelming support by Democrats.

Like I said, it will be a once in a lifetime opportunity- let’s hope Joe strikes while the iron is hot...

[LiberalArkie]

17. And there are a lot of congress critters heavily vested in the status quo

[cstanleytech]

21. That to. Some Democrats of course but relatively few where as the Republicans are pretty much

guaranteed to be invested in that as its part of what they use to rally their ignorant base.

[Locrian]

40. agreed...

honest question though - has Biden changed his stance on MFA?

[RussBLib]

5. OPEN ENROLLMENT in Medicare!!

NOW! For everyone who has lost a job, and how about lowering the age of entry to 60, so I can get on it too!!

This is a great opportunity to expand Medicare and take care of all of those who probably lost their healthcare along with their job.

[stopbush]

6. My daughter works part time as a college student who qualifies for MediCal.

She’s now laid off from work and receiving unemployment benefits in an amount that may well disqualify her for MediCal.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Isn't it ironic (and gross) that in one of America's greatest health crisis, that health care is ...

being taken away, through literally no one's fault, other than perhaps the idiot in the WH? And, ironically enough, his health care is paid for by us. He should go w/o health care, he can afford it, and give his health care to someone who needs it.

[iluvtennis]

12. Why can't those laid off workers be provided ObamaCare/ACA benefits - federal govt can pay for it.

Hope the House puts this in one of the upcoming CareAct bills.

[Xipe Totec]

14. The fundamental flaw I've been harping about for years - employer provided insurance is a farse

It only covers you while you're employed and the first thing that happens when you're sick is that you lose your job.

Double whammy.

[Ligyron]

15. If stuff like this doesn't drive the country into a Democratic majority next election.

Absolute nothing will. It's our last chance before feudalism.

[RussBLib]

25. the dis- and mis-information is going to be thick

Had a notion the other day that the "new" OAN network was backed by Russia, or China. It's sad to see more media hiding behind Trump's wall of deception. Here's a line from Wiki about OAN:

Robert Herring, Sr., founder and CEO of the network, has ordered producers to promote pro-Trump stories, anti-Clinton stories, and anti-abortion stories, and to minimize stories about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.[citation needed]

As soon as you say you are pro-Trump, then you are pro-lies, pro-deception, pro-manipulation. Who can trust that?

It's going to get harder to tell truth from lies, I'm afraid.

[Ligyron]

32. Each and every time they pull some deceptfull, shady or illegal shit...

... the minute it gets reported, they immediately accuse Dems of doing the exact same thing.

Now we're on the defense from the get go and have lost the high ground before most of the country is even aware of what it was that happened.

Someone or some entity on their side is extremely clever and quite resourceful. They know we won't stoop to their level and take full advantage of that fact.

[Lock him up.]

44. Uh, not really on the defense anymore...

From 538 (check daily): https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/

Even TEXAS is in play and less than 6 months to go. Flip it and the orange viRu$ and his sycophantic henchmen are done!

Look at Mass, N.Y., N.J., Col., EPIC CRUSH of the criminal mob boss ...

that's not a BLUE WAVE coming, it's a BLUE TSUNAMI

[JmAln]

18. It's be interesting...

When all those people who lost their health care insurance start showing up at hospital emergency rooms without enough money to pay.
Then what?

[durablend]

42. Then what happens

They get treated, get sent endless bills and get sent to collections

[SheLiberal]

19. Keep My Plan

I would love to hear from all those folks who complained about the ACA because they loved their insurance and wanted to keep their plan. Bet they are singing a different tune now that they have lost that job and have no other options.

[csziggy]

35. The whole "keep your plan" was absurd with employer provided insurance

My husband worked at the same company for fifteen years. They changed insurance programs and companies about every two years. We never knew from one year to the next which company we would be offered and what plans were going to available. The best plans offered had a fairly high deductible so most of the minimum wage employees could not afford to use it since it was at least $2000 out of pocket before it began covering anything.

As soon as the ACA went into effect, my husband retired. He'd been pretty much working for insurance coverage - I was un-insurable until the ACA passed - so once we could get insurance on our own he could cut free.

Now we are both on Medicare with a supplemental - and it is the best insurance we have ever had. Everyone should have something similar as an option!

[keithbvadu2]

26. And the GOP wants to take away even more by killing ACA.

And the GOP wants to take away even more by killing ACA.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

27. K & R

[moreland01]

28. Thanks, Obama.

Thank you that those people will be able to hop on to Medicaid or an Obamacare exchange.

[McCamy Taylor]

31. Health insurers do not want to take care of sick people.

[Bengus81]

34. Trump wouldn't dare start ACA enrollment early,that would be admitting it's a GOOD plan....

And put into law by that black guy!! Trump's ego and lack of caring about anyone but the rich would never allow such a thing to happen.

[csziggy]

36. If you have a major life changing event, such as losing your job, you can enroll any time

So enrollment does not have to begin early.

You can still get 2020 health insurance 2 ways:

If you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to a life event like losing other coverage, getting married, or having a baby.
If you qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). You can apply any time.

https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/dates-and-deadlines/

[Bengus81]

48. Good to know for those peeps. Now let's see 43M sign up and make Trumps head explode....

[area51]

51. You bring up a good point,

however, if people are in a state which didn't expand Medicaid, people who've lost their job are unlikely to be able to afford the ACA premiums.

[csziggy]

52. Are they still giving subsidies?

That's how my husband and I could afford a policy through the ACA. The amount we each had to pay was very close to what we are now paying for Medicare. Our supplemental is much higher in cost, of course, but we can better afford it now. Plus the first year I had it made it worth paying for as long as they will cover me - I had my aortic valve replaced and a cancerous kidney removed and didn't have to pay a penny out of pocket.

[csziggy]

37. I told my insurance agent over a month ago that this could push the USA towards MFA

Since so many would be laid off and lose insurance, that the coronavirus could convince Americans that employer provided insurance does not work. Since his company is already in the Medicare Supplemental business, they are in the perfect spot to take advantage of the shift when it happens, but he didn't seem to understand this.

Ironically, his company provides no benefits to their agents who work entirely on a commission basis. This means that the agents frequently do not earn enough to buy the kind of insurance they sell.

[beachbumbob]

39. how many will be 18 yrs and older? How many will vote Nov 3rd?

[Vinca]

45. This is something that gets no coverage. All those days of hospital treatment will come at a cost.

Medical bankruptcies are going to soar in this country. I can't imagine what 1 day in an ICU on a ventilator might cost.

[Steelrolled]

53. Aren't covid-19-related medical costs of uninsured being paid by Medicare?

I heard that, and this seems to confirm it:

https://www.hhs.gov/about/leadership/secretary/speeches/2020-speeches/remarks-white-house-coronavirus-press-briefing-4-03-20.html