Addressing racial injustice must include making our health care system more equitable
The murder of George Floyd has ignited an important movement to address systemic racism and inequalities that exist in our country. As COVID-19 proved, health care remains one of the inequitable parts of our society. This op-ed originally appeared in the Hartford Courant on May 17th behind a paywall so I’m sharing it again here:
As many of us yearn to get back to our normal lives and put COVID-19 behind us, we must come to grips with the hard truth that there is another — and far scarier — health care crisis looming in Connecticut.
The consequences of decades of health access issues in communities of color, a surging uninsured population and the rising cost of health care are scary enough on their own. Combine those factors with a potential second wave and large numbers of people putting off routine treatment for pre-existing conditions, canceling elective but necessary procedures, not picking up their prescriptions and neglecting control of their chronic diseases, and you have a perfect storm our system may not be able to handle.
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the glaring inequities of our health care system and proven what we’ve long known but rarely acknowledge: Health care remains both separate and unequal depending on who you are and where you live. Even in 2020, your ZIP code continues to predict your life expectancy.
For months, many of the poorest and sickest among us have put off care — out of fear of contracting the virus, because they couldn’t afford it or because they may not even have a primary care doctor. Postponing care because of access or cost means conditions like diabetes and heart disease quickly shift from manageable to lethal.
While COVID-19 has amplified racial and geographic health care disparities, it has also created a whole new group of medically vulnerable people: the newly jobless and financially insecure.
Nearly a half-million Connecticut workers have lost their jobs, and, as a result, our uninsured rate will soon reach staggering heights. The consulting group Health Management Associates estimated Connecticut’s uninsured rate would grow by anywhere from 130,000 to 382,000 people. To put that into perspective, our uninsured rate in the first year of the 2008 recession only grew by 22,000.
Losing a job is not the only indicator of future health care insecurity. While most people still get their insurance from their job, some employers have cut back on the percentage they contribute to each employee’s premium. This has led to a rise in high-deductible health plans in which employees must pay thousands of dollars plus their regular premium before their insurance kicks in.
The rate at which the cost of insurance is growing for families and small businesses is beyond alarming. In 2019, the average annual premium for single coverage was $7,188 and $20,576 for family coverage according to the Kaiser Foundation. That represents an increase of 22% over the last five years and 54% over the last 10 years.
So what can we do to mitigate this looming crisis?
First, health insurers should join auto insurers in offering reductions to monthly premiums and eliminating deductibles and co-pays for primary care to encourage people to resume seeking care for pre-existing conditions. Health insurers should be commended for waiving some testing and treatment costs, but this further step will help prevent the wider population from canceling or not using their insurance due to affordability.
Second, we need to make sure everyone has access to a quality and affordable insurance plan. This is why I have led the fight alongside Sen. Matt Lesser and Comptroller Kevin Lembo to create a public option for health insurance. If there was ever a time to give individuals, small businesses and nonprofits access to the same quality and affordable state health plan your elected representatives have, it is now.
Third, in addition to assembling a task force to study the root causes of health inequity and form a plan to address them, we need to ensure everyone in our communities has access to basic health care. Let’s start by allowing the undocumented to purchase health insurance and automatically resuming Medicaid coverage of incarcerated individuals for 90 days after their release without a re-application process.
Finally, we must ensure that all residents — and particularly seniors — can afford the prescription drugs they need to survive. Passing Senate Bill 1, a bipartisan bill that would cap the cost of insulin and insulin supplies at $100 per month, should be first on the list.
Further, we should follow the lead of Massachusetts’ Republican governor and cap price increases of all generic drugs in addition to setting up a prescription drug affordability board to evaluate expensive drugs and implement cost controlling mechanisms such as setting maximum prices consumers pay.
We can no longer afford to postpone enacting bold solutions to our health care challenges because they are expensive or politically difficult. Lives are literally on the line, and the next few months will be critical to avoiding this looming crisis.
