BeckyDem
BeckyDem's JournalPolitics K-12 @PoliticsK12: Betsy DeVos now has to decide whether to recommend waivers from federal
https://twitter.com/PoliticsK12/status/1245322213592571904The sociopaths are on the rampage.
Dave Jamieson @jamieson: Seb. Sherrod Brown calling for a 'pandemic premium pay' -- ie hazard pay --
https://twitter.com/jamieson/status/1245039556942008321
40-Year-Olds, How Are You Doing?
We’d like to hear about how the U.S. economy is treating you.
By The New York Times Opinion
March 31, 2020
Are you better off than your parents? Research suggests that many Americans born in 1980 have had a harder time jumping up the economic ladder than the generation before.
The year 1980 also marked a rough turning point in the United States, where income, wealth, job security and economic opportunity began to diverge sharply for the most and least affluent Americans. That means that this current public health and economic crisis is catching them with varied levels of resources to draw on.
We’re working on an article about the financial situations of people born in 1980 as we enter a recession. If you’re turning 40 this year, please tell us what effect the economy has had on you.
Born in 1980? We want to hear from you
How have your financial and professional opportunities compared to those of your parents? How have your expectations about your job security and compensation compared with reality?*
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/opinion/inequality-1980-economy.html
Analysis: He Got Tested For Coronavirus. Then Came The Flood Of Medical Bills.
By Elisabeth Rosenthal and Emmarie Huetteman
April 1, 2020
By March 5, Andrew Cencini, a computer science professor at Vermont’s Bennington College, had been having bouts of fever, malaise and a bit of difficulty breathing for a couple of weeks. Just before falling ill, he had traveled to New York City, helped with computers at a local prison and gone out on multiple calls as a volunteer firefighter.
So with COVID-19 cases rising across the country, he called his doctor for direction. He was advised to come to the doctor’s group practice, where staff took swabs for flu and other viruses as he sat in his truck. The results came back negative.
By March 9, he reported to his doctor that he was feeling better but still had some cough and a low-grade fever. Within minutes, he got a call from the heads of a hospital emergency room and infectious-disease department where he lives in upstate New York: He should come right away to the ER for newly available coronavirus testing. Though they offered to send an ambulance, he felt fine and drove the hourlong trip.
In an isolation room, the doctors put him on an IV drip, did a chest X-ray and took the swabs.
Now back at work remotely, he faces a mounting array of bills. His patient responsibility, according to his insurer, is close to $2,000, and he fears there may be more bills to come.
“I was under the assumption that all that would be covered,” said Cencini, who makes $54,000 a year. “I could have chosen not to do all this, and put countless others at risk. But I was trying to do the right thing.”
https://khn.org/news/covid19-coronavirus-test-surprise-medical-bill/
Medicare for ALL 2020
Democrats demand data on racial disparities in America's coronavirus response
By Jason Silverstein
March 31, 2020 / 1:09 PM / CBS News
Five Democrats in Congress are demanding data from the federal government about racial disparities in the nation's response to the coronavirus pandemic. The lawmakers said in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that the government is "currently failing to collect and publicly report on the racial and ethnic demographic information" for COVID-19 tests and patients.
"Without demographic data, policy makers and researchers will have no way to identify and address ongoing disparities and health inequities that risk accelerating the impact of the novel coronavirus and the respiratory disease it causes," the letter said.
"Although COVID-19 does not discriminate along racial or ethnic lines, existing racial disparities and inequities in health outcomes and health care access may mean that the nation's response to preventing and mitigating its harms will not be felt equally in every community."
It is signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, and Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Robin Kelly.
The letter detailed several ways that minority communities could be hit harder by the pandemic, as well as the medical shortages and economic disruptions it has created. Black and Hispanic adults are statistically more likely to suffer from ailments like obesity, diabetes and asthma, the lawmakers say. Additionally, immigrants and people of color are also less likely to have health insurance.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-demand-data-on-racial-disparities-in-americas-coronavirus-response/
Dr. Dena Grayson @DrDenaGrayson : Tragic news. Neurosurgeon Dr. James T. Goodric
https://twitter.com/DrDenaGrayson/status/1244755581057073152
Jobs Aren't Being Destroyed This Fast Elsewhere. Why Is That?
It’s not too late to start protecting employment or to make medical care for Covid-19 free.
By Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman
The authors are economists at the University of California, Berkeley.
March 30, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic is laying bare structural deficiencies in America’s social programs. The relief package passed by Congress last week provides emergency fixes for some of these issues, but it also leaves critical problems untouched. To avoid a Great Depression, Congress must quickly design a more forceful response to the crisis.
Start with the labor market. In just one week, from March 15 to March 21, 3.3 million workers filed for unemployment insurance. According to some projections, the unemployment rate might rise as high as 30 percent in the second quarter of 2020.
This dramatic spike in jobless claims is an American peculiarity. In almost no other country are jobs being destroyed so fast. Why? Because throughout the world, governments are protecting employment. Workers keep their jobs, even in industries that are shut down. The government covers most of their wage through direct payments to employers. Wages are, in effect, socialized for the duration of the crisis.
Instead of safeguarding employment, America is relying on beefed-up unemployment benefits to shield laid-off workers from economic hardship. To give just one example, in both the United States and Britain, the government is asking restaurant workers to stay home. But in Britain, workers are receiving 80 percent of their pay (up to £2,500 a month, or $3,125) and are guaranteed to get their job back once the shutdown is over. In America, the workers are laid off; they must then file for unemployment insurance and wait for the economy to start up again before they can apply for a new job, and if all goes well, sign a new contract and resume working.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/opinion/coronavirus-economy-saez-zucman.html?referringSource=articleShare
32BJ SEIU @32BJSEIU: Airport workers like Hema Ramcharan are urging elected officials in NY to pass
https://twitter.com/32BJSEIU/status/1244716103617609729Rich Europeans Flee Virus for 2nd Homes, Spreading Fear and Fury
By Norimitsu Onishi and Constant Méheut
March 29, 2020
Updated 7:24 a.m. ET
ÎLE DE NOIRMOUTIER, France — On their peaceful island off France’s Atlantic Coast, some of the locals watched, with growing dread and rage, the images from Paris. As rumors began circulating about an imminent nationwide lockdown to stem the coronavirus outbreak, hordes of Parisians jammed into trains, an odd surfboard sometimes sticking out of the crowd.
There was no doubt about their destination.
“Irresponsible and selfish,” thought Dr. Cyrille Vartanian, one of the six physicians on Noirmoutier. With some time to spare — Paris was roughly five hours away — a local mayor, Noël Faucher, moved to block the only bridge to the mainland. But the national authorities said it would be illegal.
“We were powerless because people were not confined to their principal residences,” Mr. Faucher recalled, describing the influx as “an invasion.’’
Overnight, the island’s population nearly doubled, to 20,000. Nearly two weeks after the nationwide lockdown went into effect on March 17, there are about 70 suspected cases of the coronavirus on the island.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/world/europe/rich-coronavirus-second-homes.html
Trump must help NYC: Amanda Darrach @TheDarrach I'm at the ER in NYC, day 23 of symptoms.
https://twitter.com/TheDarrach/status/1244022842368368640This is heartbreaking. To her credit Nancy Pelosi on with Jake Tapper this am pressing about tests, tests, tests!
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