Health care
experts issue recommendations for COVID-19 stimulus bills
Brown University
As negotiations in Washington
continue over the best legislative responses to the growing coronavirus
pandemic, a team of public health leaders — with input from more 50 other
experts in public health, health care, medicine and law — has issued to
lawmakers a set of detailed policy recommendations for a comprehensive COVID-19
stimulus bill.
Dr. Megan Ranney — an associate
professor of emergency medicine and health services, policy and practice at
Brown University — coauthored the recommendations, which detail a set of
emergency public health and financial measures that its contributors say must
be at the core of any effective and equitable government response to what is
already a historic health crisis.
Published in the journal Health
Affairs on March 12 — with a follow-up
analysis accounting for recent legislative developments
published on March 18 — the recommendations came as Congress continues to
debate multiple proposals on coronavirus, even as initial stages of legislation
are completed.
Among the
recommendations, the public health leaders say that lawmakers should
boost the country’s capacity to test, treat and contain the disease; require
coverage of preventive and diagnostic services with no cost-sharing; protect
especially vulnerable populations; provide financial and logistical support to
impacted workers and employers; expand resources for frontline health care
providers; facilitate the rapid development of an affordable COVID-19 vaccine
and treatment; and invest in key public health infrastructure.
“For health care providers, an effort like this is extremely expensive and difficult to coordinate,” Ranney said. “We need the federal government to step up and be flexible and forthright with financial support, supplies and communication.”
The extraordinary nature of this
public health crisis heightens the urgency of this need, said Dr. Howard
Forman, a professor of public health, radiology and management at Yale
University, who led the group that developed the recommendations.
“What we are facing is a
once-in-a-century public health challenge, and the response from our government
absolutely has to reflect that,” he said. “The recommendations in this document
… are the critical elements that any COVID-19 legislation must contain in order
for our country to effectively battle this crisis, and then to come out on the
other side better prepared to battle the next one.”
Since the recommendations were
published, its authors have been approached by members of Congress and the
White House, and state-level officials from around the country have consulted
them in determining local responses to the pandemic, Ranney said.
In support of its major proposals,
the document goes into detail about how lawmakers can use existing policy
channels — such as state Medicaid expansion — to fulfill the experts’
directives and allocate the resources necessary for a robust coronavirus
response.
“In terms of legislation, much of
the infrastructure already exists to mount an aggressive effort against this
virus and its far-reaching effects,” said Elizabeth Fowler, executive vice
president for programs at the Commonwealth Fund and a member of the writing
group. “It’s just a matter of pointing the right policies in the right
direction.”
However, the recommendations also
call for lawmakers to break new policy ground in a number of ways, especially
in order to protect vulnerable populations. The experts warn about increased
COVID-related risk to groups including the elderly, chronically ill and
homeless, as well as individuals who are undocumented, institutionalized,
incarcerated or food-insecure.
During a public health crisis, the
framework’s authors suggest, the government also has an added responsibility to
ensure accurate messaging, adequate nutrition and quality health care for the
most vulnerable Americans.
“One of the bill’s biggest
recommendations is that the federal government establish clear paths of
communication to state officials, health providers and citizens,” Ranney said.
“That doesn’t require legislative change. It just requires a coordinated
system.”
