THREAD: As @JoeBiden unveils his plan for pandemic relief, remember:

The Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act is the most comprehensive and cost effective way to guarantee everyone gets all the healthcare they need, without cost, during pandemic. (1/6) https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/04/28/covid-health-care-proposal-uninsured-medicare-212973

Subsidizing COBRA would be both expensive and ineffective (but profitable insurance corporations make massive profits off the plan) and it would still leave tens of millions uninsured or underinsured.

A lack of insurance means more Covid-19 transmissions and more deaths. (2/6)

Expanding COBRA during the pandemic would do nothing to cover those who already lacked insurance. It also won’t help the many Americans who continue to receive employer-provided health care but are still prevented from going to the doctor by massive deductibles and co-pays. (3/6)

COBRA subsidies will only cement the inequities of our current system. Expanding COBRA, which subsidizes only premiums, would treat high-income workers who lose their jobs far better than low-wage workers who do, even though the latter have suffered disproportionately. (4/6)

Allowing Medicare to cover out-of-pocket expenses during the pandemic isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s actually less expensive for taxpayers because, unlike COBRA, the government would not be covering the cost of expensive monthly premiums to insurance corporations. (5/6)

When so many people are struggling economically and are terrified by the possibility of becoming sick with the coronavirus, the government must take the burden of health care costs off the backs of working people. The Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act would do just that. (6/6)