04-10-2020, 05:48 AM
On the ESPN poll...
The best thing the U. S. Government could possibly do to make Americans comfortable going out again is to implement universal healthcare coverage for all. People aren’t necessarily afraid of getting sick as much as they are of medical bills. We are all rightfully captivated by the human health angle right now, but nobody is talking about the bills all these patients in hospitals for days and weeks are going to incur under our embarrassingly awful health care system.
People who should be taken to a hospital routinely refuse ambulance rides because they can cost more than $5,000. I’ve done this twice in my life, but still have taken two such rides (one with lights and sirens) and I probably have better coverage than 90% of people in this country, including having no deductible on my plan. But even I with great coverage don’t want to overtop my benefits and face bankruptcy due to medical bills. I can only imagine what those who have junk plans feel.
Most of us are willing to go into public if we are given the protections we need. Those are:
1. Mask wearing and distancing regulations
2. Testing regimes that give us more data
3. Health care coverage that ensures we won’t go bankrupt if we get sick
The worst thing that could happen, which I believe will, is we successfully flatten curve, go back to normal, and get hit with a second wave of infections that is worse, without the ability to enact another shutdown. There is a limit to the debt that can be created to prop everything up, and a certain fatalism will grip a large enough percentage of the population willing to roll the dice, that leads to outbreaks that make today’s numbers look like child’s play.
But even with distancing measures, testing, and mask wearing, it’s hard to see how restaurants, theaters, arenas and stadiums can be viable, or working anywhere but from home if you can makes any sense, unless only people who can prove they can’t spread the virus are allowed in. We are a long way from this or a vaccine, but the former is easier than the latter, so we better start working on it, stat.
The best thing the U. S. Government could possibly do to make Americans comfortable going out again is to implement universal healthcare coverage for all. People aren’t necessarily afraid of getting sick as much as they are of medical bills. We are all rightfully captivated by the human health angle right now, but nobody is talking about the bills all these patients in hospitals for days and weeks are going to incur under our embarrassingly awful health care system.
People who should be taken to a hospital routinely refuse ambulance rides because they can cost more than $5,000. I’ve done this twice in my life, but still have taken two such rides (one with lights and sirens) and I probably have better coverage than 90% of people in this country, including having no deductible on my plan. But even I with great coverage don’t want to overtop my benefits and face bankruptcy due to medical bills. I can only imagine what those who have junk plans feel.
Most of us are willing to go into public if we are given the protections we need. Those are:
1. Mask wearing and distancing regulations
2. Testing regimes that give us more data
3. Health care coverage that ensures we won’t go bankrupt if we get sick
The worst thing that could happen, which I believe will, is we successfully flatten curve, go back to normal, and get hit with a second wave of infections that is worse, without the ability to enact another shutdown. There is a limit to the debt that can be created to prop everything up, and a certain fatalism will grip a large enough percentage of the population willing to roll the dice, that leads to outbreaks that make today’s numbers look like child’s play.
But even with distancing measures, testing, and mask wearing, it’s hard to see how restaurants, theaters, arenas and stadiums can be viable, or working anywhere but from home if you can makes any sense, unless only people who can prove they can’t spread the virus are allowed in. We are a long way from this or a vaccine, but the former is easier than the latter, so we better start working on it, stat.