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12 Million People Have Likely Lost Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Since February
Policymakers should work to delink jobs and access to insurance coverage by expanding public options.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and shock to the economy, job losses have been consistent with roughly 6.2 million workers losing access to health insurance that they previously got through their own employer. This is the finding in a new paper by EPI Director of Research Josh Bivens and economist Ben Zipperer that surveys the limited data available to infer changes in health insurance coverage since the COVID-19 shock began. For each person who is covered under their own employer's plan, roughly two people on average are covered through employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) once spouses and dependents are included. This means that closer to 12 million people have been cut off from ESI coverage due to job losses in recent months.
"Because most U.S. workers rely on their employer or a family member's employer for health insurance, the shock of the coronavirus has cost millions of Americans their jobs and their access to health care in the midst of a public health catastrophe," said Bivens. "Tying health insurance to the labor market is always terribly inefficient and problematic, but becomes particularly so during times of great labor market churn."
The authors explain that not every worker who loses ESI through their own employer necessarily loses all access to health insurance coverage. Some workers formerly covered by their own employer could purchase continuation of benefits coverage (COBRA) or could be picked up on partners' or parents' ESI plans. By far the biggest shock absorber responding to the loss of ESI has been expansions of public health insurance rolls, which have clearly begun swelling in recent months. However, public insurance (mostly Medicaid) has not expanded enough to absorb everyone who lost job-based coverage. Medicaid rolls, for example, have likely expanded by more than 4 million since the COVID-19 shock began.
Delinking access to health insurance and specific jobs should be a top policy priority for the long term. The most ambitious and transformational way to sever this link is to make the federal government the payer of first resort for all health care expenses--a "single payer" plan like Medicare for All. Smaller, intermediate steps could lower the age of eligibility for Medicare, raise the income thresholds for Medicaid eligibility, and/or incorporate into the Affordable Care Act marketplace exchanges a public option that enrolls all workers without job-based insurance--or even those with access to ESI if they prefer the public option. Policymakers could also require that employers either provide comprehensive and affordable insurance or pay a fee to help cover the costs of enrolling their workers in the public option. At a minimum, policymakers concerned about Americans' health security should have the federal government pay for all testing and treatment for COVID-19 related expenses in coming months.
"The coronavirus pandemic has exposed how incomplete and threadbare the U.S. safety net and social insurance system is," said Zipperer. "In order to help millions of Americans during the pandemic and beyond, policymakers must take swift action to address the inequities and inefficiencies in our health care system."
EPI is an independent, nonprofit think tank that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States. EPI's research helps policymakers, opinion leaders, advocates, journalists, and the public understand the bread-and-butter issues affecting ordinary Americans.
(202) 775-8810With Attention on Presidential Contest, GOP Goes on Austerity Rampage
One leading Democrat warned Republicans' spending proposals would "demolish public education" and "let corporate price gouging run rampant."
With much of the public's attention on the looming presidential election and high-stakes jockeying over who will take on Donald Trump in November, congressional Republicans in recent weeks have provided a stark look at their plans for federal spending should their party win back control of the presidency and the Senate.
The appropriations process for Fiscal Year 2025, which begins in October, is currently underway, with congressional committees engaging in government funding debates that are likely to continue beyond the November elections.
In keeping with their longstanding support for austerity for ordinary Americans, Republicans in the House and Senate have proposed steep cuts to a wide range of federal programs and agencies dealing with education, environmental protection, Social Security, election administration, national parks, nutrition assistance, antitrust enforcement, global health, and more—all while they pursue additional deficit-exploding tax giveaways for the rich.
"Some of the most concerning policy riders in the House Fiscal Year 2025 budget bills include mandates for new oil and gas leasing, prohibitions on the establishment of important protected areas for wildlife and natural ecosystems, and limitations that hinder federal agency ability to regulate polluters, putting water quality, air quality, and the climate at risk," the Surfrider Foundation noted in a statement earlier this week.
"Two of the key federal agencies that administer these programs are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), yet the House budget bills call for a 20% funding cut to the EPA, and a 12% funding cut to NOAA," the group added.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, has been attempting to sound the alarm over the GOP's proposals, which she has warned would "demolish public education," endanger the health of women and children, gut mental health programs, "let corporate price gouging run rampant," and "expose children to dangerous products."
"I respectfully request that those on the other side of the aisle go back to the drawing board and come back with a new slate of workable subcommittee allocations across all 12 bills so that we can proceed with the important business of our 2025 appropriations work," DeLauro said during a markup hearing last month.
But Republican lawmakers have made clear that they are bent on pursuing steep cuts across the federal government, proposing spending levels well below the caps implemented by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, legislation that suspended the debt limit through January 1, 2025.
"House Republicans now intend to fund 2025 non-defense appropriations bills 6% below the 2024 level rather than provide the 1% increase" negotiated in 2023, noted David Reich, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Republicans in the Senate have also pushed for damaging cuts to non-military spending as the upper chamber prepares to hold markup hearings for its appropriations bills next week.
The Food Research & Action Center warned in a recent statement that legislation put forth by the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee would slash Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by $30 billion over the next decade, jeopardizing critical food aid for tens of millions of people as hunger rises.
According to a May report by Feeding America, "the extra amount of money that people facing hunger said they need to have enough food" has "reached its highest point in the last 20 years."
Congressional Republicans' spending proposals for next fiscal year are in line with the draconian cuts pushed by Project 2025, a sweeping far-right agenda from which Trump—the presumptive GOP presidential nominee—is attempting to distance himself as horror grows over the initiative's vision for the country.
Project 2025's 922-page policy document calls for more punitive work requirements for SNAP recipients, massive cuts to Medicaid, the abolition of the Department of Education, the elimination of major clean energy programs, and the gutting of key Wall Street regulations.
"Despite Trump's claims to have 'nothing to do with' Project 2025, his administration and campaign personnel contributed to the project," The Intercept's Shawn Musgrave wrote Friday. "Former Trump administration officials wrote and edited massive chunks of the manifesto. One of its two primary editors, Paul Dans, who directs the Heritage Foundation's 2025 Presidential Transition Project, served as the White House liaison for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration, among other positions."
"Rick Dearborn, who was briefly Trump's deputy chief of staff, wrote the White House chapter," Musgrave added. "Russ Vought, Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote the chapter on OMB and similar executive offices."
As New Campaign Implores Him to 'Pass the Torch,' Biden Rejects Calls to Drop Out
"I don't think anybody's more qualified to be president or win this race than me," the incumbent declared in a televised interview.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday delivered a defiant response to those within the Democratic Party urging him to drop out of the 2024 race, characterizing his abysmal debate performance against Donald Trump as a "bad episode" rather than validation of longstanding concerns about his age and cognitive health.
At a rally in Wisconsin and in a later sit-down interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, Biden acknowledged his poor debate showing but said emphatically that he's staying in the race, a message that came as Democratic activists and organizers launched a campaign imploring the president to step aside in the interest of ensuring Trump's defeat in November.
"I don't think anybody's more qualified to be president or win this race than me," Biden declared Friday, downplaying recent polling data showing him faring worse against Trump than potential Democratic alternatives, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
Asked how he would feel if he stayed in the race and Trump—a would-be authoritarian who's plotting a devastating attack on basic freedoms and the planet—won another four years in the White House, Biden suggested he would be at peace "as long as I gave it my all."
"That's what this is all about," the president said.
Stephanopoulos: If you stay in, and Trump is elected and everything you're warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January?
Biden: I'll feel, as long as I gave it my all, and I did as good a job as I know I can do, that's what this is about. pic.twitter.com/79HSyGcOI2
— nikki mccann ramÃrez (@NikkiMcR) July 6, 2024
Hours before the ABC News interview, a network of Democratic organizers, activists, and voters teamed up to launch the "Pass the Torch" campaign in a coordinated attempt to push Biden to "make good" on his 2020 pledge to be a "transition" president.
"President Joe Biden has achieved great things. His administration led us out of the pandemic and has been rebuilding our economy, standing up to corporate greed, taking urgent climate action, and so much more—domestically, he is arguably the most accomplished progressive Democratic president in generations," the campaign's website states.
"All of that—and much, much more—will be lost if Donald Trump takes back the presidency," the website continues. "Democrats need the strongest possible ticket to maximize our chances of winning in November. It has become very clear, based on both long-term polling and the recent debate, that Democrats' current ticket is not the strongest one we can put forward."
The campaign includes a petition urging Democratic members of Congress and delegates to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to join calls for the president to step aside.
Today Democrats across the country are launching a grassroots campaign to call on Biden to #PassTheTorch, step aside as the nominee and support the candidate best able to beat Trump. Follow the campaign at @PassTheTorch24 and sign our petition at https://t.co/2dftntqMR3
— Aaron Regunberg (@AaronRegunberg) July 5, 2024
Thus far, five sitting Democratic lawmakers—Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), and Angie Craig (D-Minn.)—have urged Biden to drop out of the race, but more are expected to do so in the coming days as the party's August convention approaches.
The Washington Postreported Friday that Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is "attempting to assemble a group of Democratic senators to ask President Biden to exit the presidential race." Earlier in the week, Reutersreported that "there are 25 Democratic members of the House of Representatives preparing to call for Biden to step aside if he seems shaky in coming days."
Major Democratic donors, meanwhile, have "undertaken a number of initiatives to pressure" Biden to drop out of the race, according toThe New York Times.
"A group of them is working to raise as much as $100 million for a sort of escrow fund, called the Next Generation PAC, that would be used to support a replacement candidate," the Times reported. "If Mr. Biden does not step aside, the money could be used to help down-ballot candidates, according to people close to the effort."
But Biden still has the support of top congressional Democrats, with both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) backing the president in the wake of the debate.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the upper chamber's leading progressive, has also declined to join calls for Biden to end his reelection bid.
"He's not a great debater, he’s not necessarily a great speaker," Sanders toldSemafor. "People are just gonna have to say: Okay, you know what? Yeah, he's old. Yeah, he's not as articulate as he should be. But you're voting for somebody whose policies will impact your life."
"Biden is the candidate," the senator added. "I suspect he will be the candidate. I'll do my best to get him elected."
House progressives, too, have thus far not backed the push for Biden to drop out and pave the way for an alternative candidate.
"There has been not a peep from the Squad or the other members of Congress known for barnstorming progressive activism," Slate's Alexander Sammon noted Saturday. "The reason is that the question of whether Biden should run again is an internecine fight within the centrist wing of the party. Joe Biden has, for his lengthy, decadeslong career, always been the man in the middle, if not slightly to the right, of the Democratic continuum."
"Now many of the same centrists who previously pushed for Biden are freaking out about his ability to win the election," Sammon wrote. "There's no real upside for Squad members to put themselves in the line of fire during an already bitter public deliberation."
The Timesreported late Friday that Biden's interview with Stephanopoulos appears to have done little to change the minds of people on either side of the question.
"A handful of current and former Democratic officials who had called on Mr. Biden to end his reelection campaign said the interview had done little, or even nothing, to address their concerns," the Times observed. "Reliable supporters of the president's reelection campaign similarly fanned out to television networks, declaring once more that they were sticking with Mr. Biden."
"Other Democrats who had raised concerns about the president's performance, but had not gone as far as to call for Mr. Biden to drop out, said the interview did not significantly change their views of his candidacy," the newspaper continued.
Doggett, who was the first congressional Democrat to urge Biden to step aside, toldCNN following Biden's Friday interview that "the need for him to step aside is more urgent tonight than when I first called for it on Tuesday."
The Texas Democrat warned that "every day he delays" dropping out "makes it more difficult for a new person to come on board who can defeat Donald Trump."
Biden, Doggett added, "does not want his legacy to be that he's the one who turned our country over to a tyrant."
This story has been updated to include additional House Democrats who have called on Biden to step aside.
As Other Governors Boost Biden, Maura Healey Says 'Listen to the American People'
"Whatever President Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump," the Massachusetts Democrat said.
While other Democratic governors across the United States reiterate their support for President Joe Biden amid calls for him to be replaced as the party's nominee for the November election, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Friday suggested that he should consider some of the criticism.
"President Biden saved our democracy in 2020 and has done an outstanding job over the last four years," Healey said in a statement, recalling his previous win over former President Donald Trump, who is now the presumptive Republican nominee.
"I am deeply grateful for his leadership. And I know he agrees this is the most important election of our lifetimes," Healey continued. "The best way forward right now is a decision for the president to make. Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump. Whatever President Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump."
Despite mounting calls for Biden to step aside—and "pass the torch" to Vice President Kamala Harris or another top Democrat—since his poor performance in a CNN-hosted debate against Trump last week, the president has remained defiant, declaring at a campaign event in Wisconsin on Friday that "I am running and going to win again."
"I am running and going to win again."
President Joe Biden addressed the pressure to end his campaign during a rally in Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/N1y6Pidkqp
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 5, 2024
After a Wednesday gathering with Democratic governors—including Healey—at the White House, the Biden-Harris reelection campaign sent out an email that said, "Coming out of the meeting, the message was clear: Joe Biden has governors' backs, and they are proud to have his."
The email highlighted recent supportive statements from Govs. John Carney of Delaware, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Josh Green of Hawaii, Kathy Hochul of New York, Dan McKee of Rhode Island, Wes Moore of Maryland, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Gavin Newsom of California, Tim Walz of Minnesota, and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.
The president told governors at the meeting that "he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8:00 pm," The New York Timesreported. "Biden also told the governors that he had been examined by his physician at some point in the days after the debate because of the cold he was suffering from and that he was fine."
On Capitol Hill, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) "is attempting to assemble a group of Democratic senators to ask President Biden to exit the presidential race," The Washington Postreported Friday. The newspaper noted that "Warner spokeswoman Rachel Cohen would neither confirm nor deny that the senator thinks Biden needs to drop out of the race."
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first Democrat in Congress to call on Biden to withdraw from the race on Tuesday. The following day, Congressman Raúl Grijalva of Arizona became the second.
Biden is also facing pressure to drop out from some major donors. In a lengthy statement to CNBC on Thursday, Abigail Disney said: "I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket. This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high."
Democrats and other critics urging Biden to reconsider his run have pointed to growing concerns about a second Trump term considering a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling giving the president king-like powers, the Republican's desire to be a dictator on "day one," and fears that Trump will work to impose the far-right's Project 2025 policy agenda.
In an effort to reassure voters, Biden's team has set up a televised interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, which is set to air Friday at 8:00 pm ET. Viewers will also be able to watch the interview on the ABC application for smartphones or tablets, or online at ABC.com.