By The Collection’s Agitator
Tribe, you have likely heard the phrase “Covid long haulers.” This refers to individuals who had Covid-19 but are recovered or are recovering. They may no longer technically test positive for Covid-19, but they have not returned to their pre-virus state of health. Some survivors report being tired, have trouble breathing, losing hair, blood clots, brain fog, and some even need organ transplants to live. These stories are often in the news accompanied by a plea to wear a mask and/or get vaccinated.
Then there are the other Covid-19 long haulers not on the front covers of magazines or the top story in broadcast news. They are the ones dealing with crippling medical debt. See, while testing and vaccines are free in the US, the cost of hospitalization, medication, and aftercare is not. NBC News and other outlets air stories of individuals and surviving family members now facing medical bills surpassing one million dollars in some instances.
The fight to save your life is not cheap! You or those left behind – face an uphill battle with insurers, facilities, and healthcare providers looking to recover the cost of care. Their immediate task was to save your life; now, the focus is on collecting payment for services rendered and equipment utilized. So even if you have beaten Covid-19 well and good, you still have a fight on your hand.
Where is your safety net?
In the US, health coverage is tied to your employer more often than not. Covid-19 saw the decimation of workers and businesses. If you are out of work, likely, you are also are without healthcare. This is especially true if you live in one of the many states that rejected additional federal monies via the Affordable Cares Act (aka Obama Care.) These are the same states that ended the Unemployment Insurance Extension over the summer based on a claim that people just did not want to work. The ones fighting the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium in the courts as taking rather than viewing it as an attempt to slow the disease spread.
According to the US Census, about 19% of American households had unpaid healthcare debt pre-Covid-19. The majority of those households were non-white. Stanford’s Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) current estimate is around $81 billion in outstanding medical debt. Are you somewhere in here? Medical debt is stagnating Americans or forcing them into bankruptcy. No, it is not student loan debt but the necessity of healthcare that is swelling the population of homeless Americans.
But unlike the dreaded student loans, medical costs can be negotiated down. There are organizations and patient advocates whose mission is to help you challenge the $20 per pill pain reliever the hospital gave you. We all know that identical medication at the pharmacy down the block is half that, and if you get the generic brand, you could pay as little as $5.00 per bottle.
So you may or may not have contracted the virus; may or may not have lost income; may be behind on your rent or mortgage, and in forbearance for student loans. These temporary social safety nets will end, and the impact on your life and credit may buckle even the strong.
Covid-19 exposed to the larger public what we in the Black, Brown and Indigenous communities have labored under since the founding of this nation; the lack of access to good, effective, culturally sensitive, and affordable healthcare.
We were the human guinea pigs in these lands before the name United States of America was known. We were experimented on without anesthesia because, supposedly, we did not feel pain at best. At worst, we were beasts whose pain and discomfort did not matter. So, we did not get the owed forty acres or the mule or universal healthcare resulting from our ancestors’ involuntary and revolutionary contributions to medicine and wellness and society as a whole. We got debt.
Immediate Tasks: Protect your health as best as you can cause without it, there isn’t much.
Maintain or repair your credit rating- it will be crucial in the coming months. Black Women Building Credit’s own Credit Sage is the SME to assist you in dealing with the credit reporting agencies.
Vote in local and national elections thus voicing what you want and need from elected officials as you pursue or hold on to yourAmerican dream. Electing individuals with business interests top of mind over their constituent’s wellbeing, you become like Sisyphus, never reaching your top.
