Re:San Jose: Three TSA agents test positive for Covid-19
by dx034 on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @03:18AM
(#22543789)
I believe the concern about uninsured is not the numbers but who'd be affected. Office workers, which can quarantine rather easily, are likely to be insured. But those in contact with most people on a daily basis (e.g. fast food workers, retail employees) are more likely to be uninsured and also have a lower allowance for sick days or PTO.
My concern would therefore be that the people that cannot afford health care or quarantine are also the ones most likely to act as multiplier as they come in contact with hundreds of people a day. That's not a purely US problem, e.g. delivery drivers or Uber drivers also tend to be low wage and self employed in Europe.
But in the US the combination with the lack of health insurance could make this worse.
Re:San Jose: Three TSA agents test positive for Covid-19
by inferiorhuman on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @07:40AM
(#22544921)
Kaiser Family Foundation puts the rate at over 10% of people under 65 years old. They also don't discuss underinsured folks. This is becoming a thing again now that our idiot president relaxed regulations.
https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-th...
Re:San Jose: Three TSA agents test positive for Covid-19
by hcknwscommenter on Wednesday March 11, 2020 @02:58AM
(#22543715)
8% versus 10.5% of 325 million us residents is a difference of 8,125,000. The U.S. healthcare system is not equipped to treat that additional 8MM people because our citizenry is much sicker than other countries.
Are you familiar with sick leave policies in Korea?
> Higher rate of diabetes
Korea has 8% with Type-2 diabetes and 23% are pre-diabetic. The US does have a higher rate, but not by much: 10.5%
> lack of public healthcare
Just 8.5% of Americans are uninsured. So about 9 people out of 100. There may be capacity concerns, but no more than most other countries. If a surge of British citizens suddenly went to the hospital, they’d be overwhelmed as well.