WEBVTT - Unemployed, Uninsured and Falling Through the Cracks

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Francesca Levi. Laura Carlson is out.

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<v Speaker 1>It's day one hundred seventeen since coronavirus was declared a

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<v Speaker 1>global pandemic. Today's main story as another wave of the

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<v Speaker 1>virus bears down on the United States. Millions of people

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<v Speaker 1>who lost their jobs when the outbreak began are stranded

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<v Speaker 1>without health insurance. But first, here's what happened in virus

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<v Speaker 1>news today. India has become a global hotspot for the pandemic.

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<v Speaker 1>The country's outbreak is now the third biggest in the world,

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<v Speaker 1>surpassing Russia. India now has around seven hundred thousand COVID

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen cases. Only the US and Brazil have more. India

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<v Speaker 1>had one of the world's strictest lockdowns at the end

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<v Speaker 1>of March, when the country reported fewer than one thousand cases,

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<v Speaker 1>but infections have surged since June, when Prime Minister nor

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<v Speaker 1>Und Remote eased restrictions to rescue the economy from collapse.

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<v Speaker 1>A New Jersey company has one approval to make a

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<v Speaker 1>portable COVID nineteen tests that delivers results in fifteen minutes.

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<v Speaker 1>The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for

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<v Speaker 1>Beckton Dickinson to make the handheld product, which is around

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<v Speaker 1>the size of a cell phone. It's part of a

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<v Speaker 1>new class of tests that promised to make detecting the

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<v Speaker 1>virus faster and cheaper. The first such test was cleared

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<v Speaker 1>for US use in May. The country has struggled with

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<v Speaker 1>the test shortage since the pandemics early weeks. That's led

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<v Speaker 1>to long lines for testing in new hotspots like Arizona, Texas,

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<v Speaker 1>and Florida. Finally, data kind firms that in the US,

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<v Speaker 1>black and Latino people are being harmed by the coronavirus

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<v Speaker 1>at higher rates than whites. The New York Times reported

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<v Speaker 1>on federal data that proves this data that was only

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<v Speaker 1>made available after the newspaper sued the Centers for Disease

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<v Speaker 1>Control and Prevention. Latinos and Blacks have been three times

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<v Speaker 1>as likely to become infected and twice as likely to

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<v Speaker 1>die from the virus, according to the new numbers. And

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<v Speaker 1>now for today's main story, as a second coronavirus wave

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<v Speaker 1>threatens America. The virus has endangered the health of millions,

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<v Speaker 1>not just because of the effects of COVID nineteen, but

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<v Speaker 1>because a wave of job losses since the disease first

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<v Speaker 1>hit has left them without health insurance. I spoke to

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg reporter Read Pickart, who explains that in other developed economies,

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<v Speaker 1>the newly unemployed could rely on systems of universal healthcare,

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm America, they've had to navigate a bewildering menu

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<v Speaker 1>of options to figure out if they have access to

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<v Speaker 1>have patched together safety. We know that the pandemic led

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<v Speaker 1>millions of people to lose their jobs, So what does

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<v Speaker 1>that mean more broadly for healthcare? So more than half

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<v Speaker 1>the US population relied on the workplace for health coverage

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<v Speaker 1>before the pandemic hit. So when tens of millions of

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<v Speaker 1>people lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic

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<v Speaker 1>and the recession that it's spurred, millions of people found

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<v Speaker 1>themselves not just out of work, but without health insurance.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, the US is pretty unique in this way,

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<v Speaker 1>and the fact that many other countries have, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a national health care system available to all regardless of

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<v Speaker 1>your work status. But in the US, whether you have

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<v Speaker 1>insurance or not, and therefore access to affordable healthcare largely

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<v Speaker 1>depends on whether you have a job or not. So

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<v Speaker 1>you know, Congress acknowledged that problem and set aside billions

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<v Speaker 1>of dollars to help pay for COVID nineteen testing and

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<v Speaker 1>treatment for the uninsured. But that aid doesn't cover regular

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<v Speaker 1>or more routine medical costs. And so when we talk

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<v Speaker 1>about all of these people who lost health insurance because

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<v Speaker 1>of the job losses during the pandemic, how many people

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<v Speaker 1>are we actually talking So there are several estimates to

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<v Speaker 1>how many people have lost their health insurance, and it

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<v Speaker 1>largely depends on how you want to look at the losses.

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<v Speaker 1>So the Economic Policy Institute, for instance, estimated that more

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<v Speaker 1>than sixteen million workers lost their employer provided health insurance

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<v Speaker 1>as of early May. If you were to include dependence

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<v Speaker 1>like spouses and children. The Kaiser Family Foundation actually estimated

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<v Speaker 1>that almost twenty seven million people could have lost their

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<v Speaker 1>employer responsive coverage and become uninsured between March and May.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, the good news at least is that

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<v Speaker 1>most of these people who lost their health insurance were

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<v Speaker 1>in a position to join a family member's plan or

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<v Speaker 1>qualify for Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act marketplace tax

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<v Speaker 1>credits um and those are the tax credits that help

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<v Speaker 1>reduce the costs of the private plans that you know

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<v Speaker 1>could replace job space coverage for households with lower moderate incomes.

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<v Speaker 1>But at least what we've found is that not everyone

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<v Speaker 1>fits into one of those buckets. So without Medicaid and

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<v Speaker 1>without a subsidy, paying for health insurance is incredibly expensive

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<v Speaker 1>and many people may choose to just go without. And

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<v Speaker 1>the whole seemed to be even bigger in states that

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<v Speaker 1>haven't expanded Medicaid, like Florida and Texas. Yeah, tell me

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit more about Florida and Texas. What is

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<v Speaker 1>unique about those states? So Florida and Texas are unique

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<v Speaker 1>in the fact that that they have enormous populations, but

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<v Speaker 1>they chose not to expand Medicaid. So in those states,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, if you don't qualify for an a s

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<v Speaker 1>A subsidy UM, and you don't qualify for their normal

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<v Speaker 1>Medicaid programs, you have this this gap that people are

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<v Speaker 1>falling into, and the gap can be exacerbated by the

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<v Speaker 1>fact that UM in those states, there have also been

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<v Speaker 1>issues with people getting their unemployment insurance and getting UM

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<v Speaker 1>approved for it. So, for instance, UM I talked to

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<v Speaker 1>someone in Texas who because it took them months to

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<v Speaker 1>get their unemployment insurance approved and that they didn't have

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<v Speaker 1>qualify for Medicaid. They ended up not qualifying for an

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<v Speaker 1>A C A tax credit either because they couldn't show

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<v Speaker 1>that they had that income. When in fact, if they

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<v Speaker 1>had gotten their jobless benefits in an appropriate amount of time,

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<v Speaker 1>then then they would have qualified and and the costs

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<v Speaker 1>would have been hundreds of dollars cheaper for that plan.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course the delay in getting these jobless benefits

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<v Speaker 1>is itself sort of a by product of the pandemic. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>so many people are applying for unemployment benefits at the

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<v Speaker 1>same time that people are having trouble even getting their

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<v Speaker 1>phone calls answered exactly. So so this is not something,

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<v Speaker 1>um that is normal for that unemployment insurance system. It's

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<v Speaker 1>they've gotten thousands and thousands of calls, and um, the

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<v Speaker 1>systems and the websites have been completely overwhelmed by the

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<v Speaker 1>amount of demand for these benefits, and and and so

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<v Speaker 1>you just have this issue where you know, the pandemic

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<v Speaker 1>itself has exposed holes in America's safety net. So you know,

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<v Speaker 1>those job losses strain the unemployment insurance system greatly, and

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<v Speaker 1>so you know, many out of work Americans found themselves

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<v Speaker 1>waiting weeks or even months for their entitled aid. Others

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<v Speaker 1>found that they didn't even qualify. And you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>loss of health insurance is just kind of the latest

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<v Speaker 1>issue to come to light. So, you know, while Medicaid

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<v Speaker 1>and a c A have helped many more from going

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<v Speaker 1>on an shirt UM, gaps remained, and those gaps show

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<v Speaker 1>an entirely different way the kind of safety net is

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<v Speaker 1>not quite working for all us workers. So is this

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<v Speaker 1>going to continue to be an issue going forward? Is

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<v Speaker 1>the problem going to get any better? When you know,

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<v Speaker 1>labor market statistics start start taking up and the outlook

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<v Speaker 1>looks more at beeat so what we've seen in the

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<v Speaker 1>weeks since these estimates were made. So so these estimates

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<v Speaker 1>you know, are going up through May basically, and and

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<v Speaker 1>since then we've gotten the employment reports from the Department

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<v Speaker 1>of Labor for both May and June, and the labor

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<v Speaker 1>market has changed a lot. Millions of people have been

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<v Speaker 1>brought back onto employers payrolls, especially in things like food services,

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<v Speaker 1>and the unemployment rate has dropped substantially from where it was,

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<v Speaker 1>though remains extremely high. But the problem is that this

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<v Speaker 1>rebound that we're seeing in the jobs market UM is

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<v Speaker 1>not exactly directly terrible to this problem being solved in

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<v Speaker 1>terms of health insurance, and that's because of the way

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<v Speaker 1>that these these rehirings are broken down. So the problem

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<v Speaker 1>is that employees and sectors like food services, where a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of those games have been seen, have relatively low

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<v Speaker 1>coverage rates for employer provided health insurance in the first place. Meanwhile, um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, sectors like state governments, which often provide health insurance,

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<v Speaker 1>continue to lay off workers. So you know, you put

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<v Speaker 1>that together, and on top of that, you have more

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<v Speaker 1>than a million people apply for unemployment benefits each week,

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<v Speaker 1>and we're seeing that people are continuing to lose their

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<v Speaker 1>jobs at an alarming rate. What does this kind of

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<v Speaker 1>tell us about the strength of our safety net and

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<v Speaker 1>about what might happen in the future with the way

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<v Speaker 1>that we think about how Americans are insured. This is

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<v Speaker 1>the first recession that we've been in where we've had

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<v Speaker 1>the Affordable Care Act, and there's no doubt when all

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<v Speaker 1>of this is said and done with that the a

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<v Speaker 1>c A will have kept many from going uninsured in

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<v Speaker 1>the wake of losing their employer sponsored coverage. But I

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<v Speaker 1>think what it really shows is that in the best

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<v Speaker 1>of times, the safety net misses some people. And when

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<v Speaker 1>we talk about health insurance, we I think we've learned

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<v Speaker 1>that pairing extreme job loss with that patch together safety

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<v Speaker 1>net has let millions of people fall through. And now

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<v Speaker 1>some people are finding themselves in a scenario where they're

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<v Speaker 1>having to decide, well, do I pay hundreds of dollars

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<v Speaker 1>towards having health insurance because my employer sponsored health coverage

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<v Speaker 1>is gone, or perhaps because my state decided not to

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<v Speaker 1>expand Medicaid? Where do I put food on the table

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<v Speaker 1>or pay my bills? And I think that is a

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<v Speaker 1>very unique problem America is facing um and one that's

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<v Speaker 1>really hard to swallow. That was read Picker. You can

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<v Speaker 1>read her story with John Tazzi on Bloomberg dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's it for our show. For coverage of the

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<v Speaker 1>outbreak from bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com

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<v Speaker 1>slash Coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave

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<v Speaker 1>us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the best way to help more listeners find our

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<v Speaker 1>global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by two

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<v Speaker 1>for foreheads, Jordan Gospore, Magnus Hendrickson and Laura Carlson. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>main story was reported by Red Picker. Original music by

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<v Speaker 1>Leo sidri Our. Editors are Rick Shine and me Francesco.

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<v Speaker 1>Leading Bloomberg's head of podcasts is