‘A million or more US workers will lose their jobs in April alone. Consider what this means for health care in this country.
Credit: Peter Foley/EPA
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 […]
I feel sorry for these poor people who cannot connect the dots between the Medicare for All idea and the candidates who propose them and those candidate’s goo ideas. Maybe Bernie Sanders will get the White House because of the Pandemic which spells out their choice for them. I sure people can see this solution to the problem as the best.
Fundamental flaws can be opportunities for creative life-affirming solutions. Too much was hidden. Blind belief is being crushed. Granted, that doesn’t help those who are in desperate need right now. While extending compassion and care during quarantine, black humor/irony tends to be my ally right now. Revisiting Twain, Vonnegut and Ring Lardner (Mash) and the one-liner he wrote in a story set in a back room of a race track during a poker game. The dealer, a bookie was yakking it up, slowing the game. The horse owner: ‘Three outta three are gonna die, so shut up and deal.’ Miltary war zone humor is along those lines. Emotional/mood disruptors that shake things up and open the way to something different. Bottom line: I find laughter healing. Stress-reducing. An ‘oh, my God!’