Saturday, April 4, 2020
"I Don't Have an Option": Facing Critical Ventilator Shortage, Cuomo Orders Seizure of Excess Equipment From Private Companies and Hospitals
"It's not that we're going to leave any health care facility without adequate equipment, but they don't need excess equipment."
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/i-dont-have-option-facing-critical-ventilator-shortage-cuomo-orders-seizure-excess
Facing what he claims is a shortage of ventilators which will leave New York State without the life-saving equipment in less than a week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday he would sign an executive order allowing the state to seize ventilators from private companies and hospitals that aren't using them in order to treat coronavirus patients in hard-hit areas.
Cuomo said he would direct the National Guard to take ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE) from private companies as well as hospitals without large numbers of coronavirus cases. The entities will either have the equipment returned to them or will be reimbursed, the governor said.
"I understand they don't want to give up their ventilators, ventilators are expensive pieces of equipment," Cuomo told the press. "But I don't have an option. And I'm not going to get into a situation where we know we are running out of ventilators and we have people dying because there are no ventilators."
At press time, more than 102,000 people in New York State had tested positive for the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19. More than 2,900 people have died of the virus in the state, including at least 1,562 in New York City.
Cuomo estimated that after the order is carried out, "several hundred" excess ventilators could be made available to the hospitals which need them. Earlier on Friday, the governor warned that he expected the state to run out of available ventilators within six days.
"It's not that we're going to leave any health care facility without adequate equipment, but they don't need excess equipment," Cuomo said.
President Donald Trump has been excorciated by critics in recent weeks for calling on state governments to "try getting" ventilators and other supplies themselves, calling hospitals that are pleading for more equipment insatiable "complainers," and seizing states' orders while they were en route from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). The president has yet to invoke the Defense Production Act on a wide scale to order the production of new ventilators, despite comments suggesting he would.
On Thursday, Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, suggested that states are misusing the SNS by requesting equipment from it, saying the stockpile is not meant to provide states with supplies even though it is taxpayer-funded.
Journalist Daniel Dale on Friday pointed out that the SNS website was changed after Kushner's statement.
A description of the program which previously said the stockpile is available "when state, local, tribal, are territorial responders request assistance to support their response efforts" now reads, "Many states have products stockpiled, as well"—reflecting Kushner's earlier statement.
In New York on Friday, Republican lawmakers in the state criticized Cuomo's executive order as an overreach. One reporter at the governor's press conference asked Cuomo if he was concerned that private companies would take legal action against him over the move.
"If they want to sue me for borrowing their excess ventilators to save lives, let them sue me," Cuomo said.
"It's Not Like We Have a Massive Recession or Worse," Says Trump After 10 Million Lost Their Jobs in Two Weeks
"It's artificial because we turned it off," Trump said of the economic crisis, a distinction that makes no difference to the millions who have lost their jobs and their health insurance.
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
72 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/its-not-we-have-massive-recession-or-worse-says-trump-after-10-million-lost-their
During a Coronavirus Task Force briefing late Thursday following news that 10 million Americans filed jobless claims over just a two-week period last month, President Donald Trump downplayed the intensifying economic downturn as "an artificial closing" and insisted that businesses like restaurants will be "bigger and better" than before once the COVID-19 crisis subsides.
"It's not like we have a massive recession or worse. It's artificial because we turned it off," Trump said, drawing a distinction that makes no difference to those who have lost their jobs—as well as employer-provided health insurance—or seen their hours drastically cut due to the crisis.
"Oh thank God, for a second I thought I was actually unemployed and not just artificially unemployed," one Twitter user quipped in response to the president's comments.
Amid widespread criticism that the federal government's economic stimulus and relief efforts have been far too slow and inadequate, Trump said "we will probably do more."
Watch:
The president's remarks came after the Labor Department announced Thursday morning that 6.6 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, a record-breaking figure that economists warned could portend an unprecedented depression.
"This kind of upending of the labor market in such a short time is unheard of," wrote Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute. "Given the incredible deterioration of the labor market in a matter of weeks, federal policymakers will absolutely need to come back and provide more desperately needed relief, and more support for the recovery once the lockdown is over."
Wisconsin Governor Finally Moves to Postpone State's Primary Elections, Shift to Vote-by-Mail
[BERNIE CAN STILL GET THE NOMINATION. WE NEED TO POSTPONE PRIMARIES A LITTLE LONGER.]
Fifteen states in recent weeks have delayed their primary elections in light of the coronavirus pandemic, but Wisconsin has yet to do so.
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/wisconsin-governor-finally-moves-postpone-states-primary-elections-shift-vote-mail
After facing mounting pressure—including calls from public health officials, voting rights advocates, and presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders—Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers finally on Friday called on the state's Republican-led legislature to hold a special session Saturday afternoon to take up legislation that would delay the state's Democratic primary and a number of state and local elections set to take place Tuesday, April 7.
The legislation Evers wants lawmakers to consider would allow an all-mail election, following the lead of 15 states which have postponed voting in the Democratic primary due to the coronavirus pandemic, which had spread to more than 258,000 Americans at press time.
The state would be ordered to send mail-in ballots to every voter who hasn't already requested one by May 19, and voters would have until May 26 to return their ballots.
Republican state lawmakers are insisting the election go forward as planned. In addition to the Democratic primary, Wisconsin voters are set to cast ballots in several local elections and a state Supreme Court race. A victory for current Justice Daniel Kelly would preserve a 5-2 conservative majority on the court. As President Donald Trump suggested earlier this week, low turnout due to the pandemic could help secure Kelly's seat.
As The Nation's journalist John Nichols wrote, influential Democrats in Wisconsin have largely been united against the GOP's refusal to delay the election—especially after Evers on March 25 followed the advice of public health officials and issued a stay-at-home order for the state to keep residents from gathering in groups and risking spreading the coronavirus.
The state party, a number of mayors, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and voting rights groups all called on Evers and the state legislature to halt in-person voting to protect Wisconsin residents—but Sanders' opponent in the Democratic presidential primary, former Vice President Joe Biden, has not joined the call.
Evers' reluctance to act has thrown the impending election into disarray in recent weeks, with more than 100 precincts reporting they don't have enough poll workers to staff voting locations and Milwaukee announcing it plans to use only five polling places instead of the usual 180, increasing the likelihood of dangerous crowds on Election Day.
This week, U.S. Judge William Conley ordered the state to extend the deadline to request an absentee ballot by one day and to allow voters until April 14 to return them, but said it was not within his power to delay the election.
Conley harshly criticized lawmakers and Evers on Thursday for their refusal to take action.
"The Wisconsin State Legislature and governor apparently are hoping...that the efforts of the [Wisconsin Election Commission] administrator, her staff, the municipalities and poll workers, as well as voters willing to ignore the obvious risk to themselves and others of proceeding with in-person voting, will thread the needle to produce a reasonable voter turnout and no increase in the dissemination of COVID-19," Conley said.
'This Is Despicable': Not Even COVID-19 Pandemic Can Halt Trump's Right-Wing Takeover of Federal Courts
Critics warn the president's latest nominees for lifetime appellate court positions are both committed to the "deadly agenda" of overturning the entire Affordable Care Act.
by
Jessica Corbett, staff writer
22 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/despicable-not-even-covid-19-pandemic-can-halt-trumps-right-wing-takeover-federal
As the coronavirus pandemic continued to ravage the United States this week, killing and infecting thousands while shuttering schools and businesses, President Donald Trump proceeded with his ongoing effort to shift the federal judiciary to the far-right by announcing a fresh pair of lifetime nominees to appellate courts.
Progressive critics swiftly denounced the nominations, characterizing Walker and Wilson as "anti-healthcare judges" and highlighting their respective records of opposing the Affordable Care Act—a position that raised particular alarm given the pandemic that is expected to sicken hundreds of thousands and leave millions of Americans uninsured.Trump on Friday announced the nomination of U.S. District Judge Justin Walker to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, following the president's nomination on Monday of Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge Cory Wilson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, responded to Walker's nomination in a series of tweets, pointing out his healthcare stances and that both he and Wilson—like so many of Trump's judicial appointments—are right-wing white men.
"A massive pandemic is testing the limits of our healthcare system, and the president is tripling down on dismantling healthcare for millions of people," Alliance for Justice president Nan Aron said in a statement Friday. "He's still supporting a lawsuit to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act, including protections for people with preexisting conditions, and now he wants to elevate Cory Wilson and Justin Walker, two stalwart advocates of that deadly agenda."
Earlier in the week, following Wilson's nomination, Aron noted that the judge "called the ACA 'illegitimate' and 'perverse,' and encouraged the Supreme Court to overturn it in its entirety.""Shame on those who have given the president a lick of credit for his handling of this crisis," she said of the COVID-19 outbreak, "while he's been focusing on protecting the wealthy and powerful at the expense of those most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic."
"The Fifth Circuit has been conservatives' primary venue for challenging this law, which has provided healthcare coverage to millions of Americans," she explained. "That the president would choose this moment to try to further solidify opposition to healthcare on this important appeals court demonstrates how little he actually prioritizes the safety and health of Americans."
The Associated Press reported Friday that Walker has "deep ties" to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and "drew a 'Not Qualified' rating from the American Bar Association when Trump nominated him last year to be a federal judge in Kentucky."
Critics also noted that just a few weeks ago, McConnell put the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic on hold to join U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in celebrating Walker's swearing in for his initial appointment.
Walker is a vocal supporter and former clerk of Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee who was approved by the Republican-dominated Senate despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct that came to light during his confirmation process.
"Who is Justin Walker, Trump's new D.C. Circuit nominee?" tweeted the advocacy group Demand Justice. "He's a Mitch McConnell and Brett Kavanaugh crony who is staunchly anti-healthcare."
Summing up this week's judicial developments in a tweet, Alliance for Justice declared: "Republicans are using the courts to attack our healthcare in the middle of a global health crisis. This is despicable."
While the nominations of Walker and Wilson in the midst of a public health crisis clearly struck a nerve among progressives, Trump and McConnell's joint effort to remake the federal judiciary has been a yearslong process that has led critics to warn that "our courts will have the final word on many of Trump's policies and will be his most lasting legacy."
'Drop the Medicare Eligibility Age to 0 Right Now': Study Warns 35 Million Could Lose Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance
"The national health insurance system is crumbling more with every day that passes."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/drop-medicare-eligibility-age-0-right-now-study-warns-35-million-could-lose-employer
The coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic collapse could cause a staggering 35 million people in the U.S. to lose their employer-sponsored health insurance over the next several months, with lower-income Americans bearing the brunt of the damage.
That's according to a report (pdf) released Friday by the research and consulting firm Health Management Associates (HMA). The new analysis warns that, depending on the severity of U.S. job losses, "the number of people receiving coverage from an employer could decline by 12 to 35 million, including both workers and family members."
"For all the abstracted talk over the last year about health insurance churn, we are likely about to see it on an unprecedented scale in terms of velocity and devastation," Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein tweeted, referring to the policy debate that emerged in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary over whether the employer-sponsored healthcare system gives people more "choice" than a universal alternative like Medicare for All.The worst-case scenario presented in the report projects a U.S. unemployment rate of 25%—equal to the jobless rate at the peak of the Great Depression. Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis predicted last month that the unemployment rate could reach 32% by the end of June.
While many people who lose their coverage will be eligible to enroll in Medicaid, the HMA report notes that "one-third of all jobs" are located in states that have opted not to expand the program.
As a result, the report warns, the total number of uninsured Americans could rise from around 28 million today to 40 million, with the impact disproportionately falling on the millions of people living in states that have not expanded Medicaid.
"We need to drop the Medicare eligibility age to 0 right now," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a vocal supporter of Medicare for All, tweeted in response to the new study.
"Good-quality health care should not be tied to your job," tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, in response to the new report. "At a minimum, the government must ensure health care for all, without cost, for the duration of this crisis."
As Common Dreams reported, the Economic Policy Institute estimated Thursday that 3.5 million people have likely already lost their employer-provided insurance over just the last two weeks as the coronavirus pandemic continues to drive mass layoffs across the U.S. The Department of Labor announced Thursday that 6.6 million people filed jobless claims last week alone.
Ryan Cooper, national correspondent for The Week, wrote in a column Friday that "thanks to America's uniquely boneheaded insistence on tying health insurance to employment," the U.S. healthcare system "is in very real danger of collapsing altogether" without immediate and sweeping action from Congress.
"Whatever it is, it needs to be big, and it needs to happen yesterday," wrote Cooper. "The national health insurance system is crumbling more with every day that passes."
Bernie Sanders Calls for 'Boldest Legislation in History' to Halt Spiraling Covid-19 Catastrophe
"In this unprecedented moment in modern American history, it is imperative that we respond in an unprecedented way."
by
Eoin Higgins, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/bernie-sanders-calls-boldest-legislation-history-halt-spiraling-covid-19-catastrophe
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday released his demands for six key priorities that he said must be included in the next round of federal economic relief for suffering Americans as the coronavirus pandemic cripples the country's healthcare system and eviscerates the economy.
"We are in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that could lead to the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans and infect millions of others, and we are entering an economic downturn that could be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s," Sanders said. "In this unprecedented moment in modern American history, it is imperative that we respond in an unprecedented way."
According to the Vermont lawmaker's office, Sanders wants the next bill to include six provisions that are aimed at helping working people in the U.S. weather the crisis:
Addressing the employment crisis by ensuring workers remain employed and paid as well as providing social services for everyone in the country, regardless of citizenship or immigration status
Guaranteeing a free at point of service Medicare for All single payer healthcare system for everyone in the country
Immediately using the Defense Production Act to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and other needed healthcare equipment for frontline workers dealing with the pandemic
Providing food for everyone in the country for the duration of the crisis
$600 billion in aid to states and cities
An immediate suspension of collections of rent, mortgage payments, medical debt, and consumer debt for four months and a suspension of student loan payments through the duration of the pandemic
In a video posted to social media, Sanders said the pandemic presents an outright "emergency" for the nation's most vulnerable populations and for all working people, and that drastic measures must be taken to protect people's health and economic wellbeing:
Sanders, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, announced the priorities Friday afternoon. Campaign co-chair Nina Turner, in a tweet, cited the need for ambitious thinking.
"We are entering a downturn that could be worse than the Great Depression," said Turner. "We must respond to this unprecedented challenge with the boldest measures: Sanders is outlining the most comprehensive set of priorities that will IMMEDIATELY provide relief and leave no one behind."
The plan won praise from Ana Maria Archila, co-director of the Center For Popular Democracy Action.
"Bernie's plan for the fourth phase of a federal legislative response centers people, not corporations," said Archila. "It is about helping us survive with the cash assistance, healthcare, nutrition, worker safety we need, and relief from monthly payments we cannot make. It speaks to the needs of frontline workers who are battling the pandemic and making it possible for the rest of us to shelter in place."
Inclusion of the kind of provisions that Sanders is demanding in the next stimulus bill would make the package "the boldest legislation in history," the senator's office said. However, as some observers pointed out, the six core concepts likely represent the least that is necessary to stop a total economic meltdown.
A number of progressive groups backed the Sanders plan, calling the forward-thinking ideas in the proposal necessary to stave off an economic disaster.
"Senator Sanders' economic rescue principles speak to the bold, fast action needed to protect and support people and prevent corporations from consolidating economic and political power amidst a crisis," said George Goehl, director of People's Action.
Make the Road Action co-director Javier H. Valdés made the case that Sanders is offering concrete, real help to Americans.
"The priorities outlined by Senators Sanders for the next Coronavirus Stimulus Package are what our country needs to ensure everyone in our community can access the financial and medical support needed to withstand this crisis," said Valdés." We stand with Senator Sanders in demanding a $2,000 monthly emergency payment, emergency food, and Medicare to every person in our country regardless of their housing situation, immigration status, or whether they have a bank account or internet connection."
Meanwhile, Sanders' rival former Vice President Joe Biden continues to claim that universal healthcare is an unworkable solution to the insurance crisis in the U.S. and that a single-payer system would not have stopped the outbreak. As Common Dreams reported, estimates of workers losing coverage due to loss of employment in 2020 could top 35 million.
In an interview Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a former candidate for president whose run was seen as ideologically similar to Sanders', praised Biden as analogous to former President Barack Obama, who "saw us through a crisis starting back in 2009 with steady, thoughtful, smart leadership."
"That's what I think we can expect from Vice President Biden," said Warren, who stopped short of an outright endorsement.
Sanders appeared on MSNBC Friday to promote his plan. During the segment, host Ali Velshi listed a number of longstanding priorities of the senator's, including Medicare for All and student debt relief, and wondered if the crisis was making Sanders' case for president for him.
"Reality has endorsed Bernie Sanders," tweeted progressive political group People for Bernie—a sentiment many progressive voices have shared in recent weeks.
In a video posted to social media, Sanders said the pandemic presents an outright "emergency" for the nation's most vulnerable populations and for all working people, and that drastic measures must be taken to protect people's health and economic wellbeing:
Sanders, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, announced the priorities Friday afternoon. Campaign co-chair Nina Turner, in a tweet, cited the need for ambitious thinking.
"We are entering a downturn that could be worse than the Great Depression," said Turner. "We must respond to this unprecedented challenge with the boldest measures: Sanders is outlining the most comprehensive set of priorities that will IMMEDIATELY provide relief and leave no one behind."
The plan won praise from Ana Maria Archila, co-director of the Center For Popular Democracy Action.
"Bernie's plan for the fourth phase of a federal legislative response centers people, not corporations," said Archila. "It is about helping us survive with the cash assistance, healthcare, nutrition, worker safety we need, and relief from monthly payments we cannot make. It speaks to the needs of frontline workers who are battling the pandemic and making it possible for the rest of us to shelter in place."
Inclusion of the kind of provisions that Sanders is demanding in the next stimulus bill would make the package "the boldest legislation in history," the senator's office said. However, as some observers pointed out, the six core concepts likely represent the least that is necessary to stop a total economic meltdown.
A number of progressive groups backed the Sanders plan, calling the forward-thinking ideas in the proposal necessary to stave off an economic disaster.
"Senator Sanders' economic rescue principles speak to the bold, fast action needed to protect and support people and prevent corporations from consolidating economic and political power amidst a crisis," said George Goehl, director of People's Action.
Make the Road Action co-director Javier H. Valdés made the case that Sanders is offering concrete, real help to Americans.
"The priorities outlined by Senators Sanders for the next Coronavirus Stimulus Package are what our country needs to ensure everyone in our community can access the financial and medical support needed to withstand this crisis," said Valdés." We stand with Senator Sanders in demanding a $2,000 monthly emergency payment, emergency food, and Medicare to every person in our country regardless of their housing situation, immigration status, or whether they have a bank account or internet connection."
Meanwhile, Sanders' rival former Vice President Joe Biden continues to claim that universal healthcare is an unworkable solution to the insurance crisis in the U.S. and that a single-payer system would not have stopped the outbreak. As Common Dreams reported, estimates of workers losing coverage due to loss of employment in 2020 could top 35 million.
In an interview Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a former candidate for president whose run was seen as ideologically similar to Sanders', praised Biden as analogous to former President Barack Obama, who "saw us through a crisis starting back in 2009 with steady, thoughtful, smart leadership."
"That's what I think we can expect from Vice President Biden," said Warren, who stopped short of an outright endorsement.
Sanders appeared on MSNBC Friday to promote his plan. During the segment, host Ali Velshi listed a number of longstanding priorities of the senator's, including Medicare for All and student debt relief, and wondered if the crisis was making Sanders' case for president for him.
"Reality has endorsed Bernie Sanders," tweeted progressive political group People for Bernie—a sentiment many progressive voices have shared in recent weeks.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)