The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is creating new burdens and exacerbating existing ones for Americans at the economic margins. Government has the obligation and the opportunity to ease those burdens.
A major problem of the nature of work in America: Far too many people are unemployed or underemployed, and don’t have access to benefits like paid family leave or sick leave. As of 2018, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly 28 million people in the United States did not have health insurance. How will these families care for themselves or family members if they were to contract the virus? There simply is no justification for the refusal of 14 states to expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. If Georgia alone were to expand Medicaid, 500,000 more people would be covered, according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
