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VOICES OF OUR CITY
No more outbreaks A new Pennsylvania House bill has been proposed. House Bill 2755 would make coroners or medical examiners wait at least 24 hours before sharing autopsy results to the public. The goal of HB 2755 is to avoid added hardship and pain families of the dead will be experiencing by the result release to the public. Supporters claim that current law overlooks the anguish caused by immediate result release to the public. However, this not only risks fake information going viral, but also endangers community safety. The number of social media users increased by approximately 120 million in just the last year. Stanford Engineering analyzed how fast fake information can go viral on social media. The study showed fake news travels faster than truth online. Losing a family member is painful enough, they do not need to suffer from fake information spreading online. Back in July, the World Health Organization finally admitted China made COVID-19 pandemic worse by not reporting about coronavirus immediately. Since January, when COVID-19 cases in the U.S. were slowly mak-
ing their way up to skyrocketing, WHO was giving a round of applause to China’s government for “promptly” sharing a genetic map of coronavirus and kept praising the government for being transparent. However, unlike what WHO was believing at that time, China was neither being prompt nor being transparent. In fact, China was sitting on sharing information about the new virus and busy covering it up. According to a study published in March, if China’s government had acted three weeks earlier than it did, the number of COVID-19 cases could have been down by 95 percent. This clearly shows a fast release of cause of death, especially if it is by a contagious disease, to the public is crucial. Wearing masks and keeping social distance has become our new norm. And I still wonder what it would have been like if we were able to manage the COVID outbreak before it became out of control. I urge you to reach out to your local legislators at www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/ legis/home/findyourlegislator/ and show your opposition to the bill. Help us build a safer community.
Rebecca Kim, BSN, RN, MSN candidate | University of Pennsylvania
Pandemic hasn’t broken the employer health insurance system Over 55 million Americans have filed for unemployment since COVID-19 struck. But for the most part, they haven’t lost their health insurance. An astounding 98 percent of workers who had employer-sponsored health benefits before the pandemic are still enrolled in workplace plans, according to a July report. That encouraging statistic ought to debunk the notion that America needs to move toward a government-run, single-payer system. If our employer-sponsored health insurance system can withstand the worst pandemic and unemployment crisis in a century, it’s worth keeping. Employers, insurers, and agents and brokers all deserve credit for the resilience of this system. Consider that many businesses have continued providing health benefits, even when they’ve been forced to furlough employees. Keeping laid-off employees on company
health plans is just one way to protect workers. As COVID cases have climbed, new health needs have emerged – and employers are meeting the challenge. One survey of 816 employers found that nearly half have enhanced their employee health benefits in response to the crisis. Expert advice is necessary now more than ever. Brokers and agents are advising companies on how to get the most value out of their current plans and helping them navigate the loan and grant programs available through the recent federal stimulus packages. When the pandemic first hit, many pundits predicted that widespread layoffs would cause tens of millions of people to lose their health insurance. But that nightmare scenario hasn’t happened – thanks to the employers, insurers, and agents who’ve made our current insurance system so resilient.
Dane Rianhard is president of the National Association of Health Underwriters and a founding principal of Maryland-based Tribridge Partners. This piece originally ran in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
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