From The Progressive Populist
The best thing Americans can do to eliminate the threat of the deadly Ebola virus in the United States would be to hasten the implementation of the Affordable Care Act so that every American with a fever and/or an upset stomach can see a doctor without fear of losing their job or emptying their savings.
Cable TV “news,” according to its business model, has whipped up hysteria over the Ebola threat in the US. Demagogues have demanded that the government stop all traffic with West Africa — which health professionals say is unnecessary and could even make the situation worse.
Thomas Freiden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on CNN Oct. 6 that if those countries with outbreaks were to be isolated, “the ability to stop the outbreak there” would become “very problematic.” If airlines only fly medical supplies and health workers into West Africa, and can’t fly travelers back, those routes quickly become unprofitable, American citizens (including health workers) won’t be able to return to the US and governments in those countries will get less stable, Frieden said.
The facts are that Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national, showed no signs of illness when he flew from Liberia, to Belgium Sept. 19. He appeared well when he arrived at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Sept. 20 to visit his fiancee. He showed up at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Sept. 25 with fever and abdominal pain but no insurance. He told medical personnel he had recently arrived from Africa, but he apparently did not mention being around sick people. (He had helped take a pregnant neighbor to a clinic in Liberia. She later died and Duncan may not have known she had Ebola.) Duncan was released with antibiotics but his condition continued to worsen and when he returned to the ER Sept. 28 he was placed in isolation. He was diagnosed with Ebola two days later. He died Oct. 8. Officials are watching at least 48 people with whom Duncan had contact before he was hospitalized. A health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was reported testing positive for the Ebola virus Sunday.
Duncan, as a visitor to the country, probably would not have had insurance anyway (which argues in favor of implementing a single-payer system that covers everybody in the nation). The threat of a contagious disease spreading throughout the population is greatly increased when a major part of the population lacks health insurance and hospitals have to consider how much care they can give the uninsured, since they know a large portion of that care will be uncompensated with fiscal “conservatives” in charge. And a breadwinner with a fever and an upset stomach has to weigh the cost of taking time off to get checked out by a doctor, at his own expense, or going ahead to his job at a restaurant, for example.
Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations writing in the Chicago Tribune Oct. 2, noted that even with the millions who have gained health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, 13.8% of Americans — about 43.3 million individuals — still lack health insurance. Millions more have policies whose “copays” for medical services are exorbitant for working people.
“These are the Americans who routinely tough out the flu, fever, aches and pains because seeking medical care is prohibitively expensive. If they become sick enough to feel desperate, the uninsured and underinsured of America go to public hospital emergency rooms for care, where waiting times in often-crowded settings can stretch on for hours. This reality is compounded by a weakened public health infrastructure: 52 health agencies, including 48 states, three territories and Washington, D.C., have reported budget cuts since 2008,” she wrote.
Republican attempts to obstruct the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which is designed to make health insurance affordable to people whose bosses refuse to provide health coverage, greatly increases the risk of an epidemic.
The risk of an Ebola outbreak — which requires close contact with a sick person who is showing symptoms — is relatively small in the United States. The risk of a flu epidemic — which is spread by an airborne virus, requires 200,000 hospitalizations and contributes to the deaths of more than 24,000 Americans a year — is much more likely. Republican obstruction of health coverage makes it worse.
See the complete Editorial at The Progressive Populist. Reprinted with permission.