What We Learned From The Pandemic

It is impossible to prepare for a tornado. These monsters strike suddenly, and in minutes can turn a community into toothpicks. But you can prepare for a hurricane--or a pandemic. Warnings come every hour in the days before the assault, so there is time to board up the windows, ready the sandbags, lay in food and secure enough medical supplies.

But what if the boss of the weather bureau declares that the whole thing is a hoax, and says it is only a harmless bit of wind, and in a few days it will be gone? No need to prepare. When it blows out the windows, floods the house and drowns the occupants the boss can blame it on China, the previous administration, the Democrats, Governors, the World Health Organization, or CNN.

The boss is what he is, and the chances that he will suddenly alter that deep-seated persona are zero. Fear not, his undoing will come in five months. Neither is it helpful to point out the blessings the storm might have brought. (I can’t think of any at the moment, and will let readers find your own version of the silver lining.) What we can all do, however, is see what we might learn from the disaster.

There is one important lesson the virus has made clear. Why were we so unprepared while many of the worlds other nations got an early handle on the pandemic? A fourth of the world’s deaths so far are Americans, and we still are the most at risk! Our lack of preparation sealed the fate of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens. In addition, millions have been economically decimated. Big industrial concerns will probably weather the storm, but many “mom and pop” enterprises may never recover. When you see a mile-long row of Americans standing six feet apart lined up in hope of getting food, the devastation produced by Covid-19 is even more obvious. Insurers, hospital systems, and private research companies are among the industries in tatters ,and the worst may yet be to come. So what did the other developed nations have we didn’t, and what has the debacle taught us?

Health care may head the list. Every other developed nation had in place an effective comprehensive government plan. Bernie tried to move the nation in that direction with his “Medicare for all,” but for reasons I have previously detailed, it would never have become law, and never would have worked. Bernie could not even get most Democrats to promote it. Mayor Pete came closer in proposing a workable system with his “medicare for all who want it”—backed up by a government program built on Obamacare, and allowing private plans. That kind of dual system exists in nations throughout the developed world enabling them to be prepared for such a cataclysm.

However you slice it or whatever you want to call it, we desperately need a single-payer health insurance system, not just to protect us in case of another pandemic, but to give the nation a coordinated, cost-efficient way to take care of everyone. To leave tens of millions uninsured is a national disgrace. How is it that with so many Americans left out we still spent twice as much on healthcare as any other nation, while in most of the medical indexes we are not even in the top tier?

Bernie’s greatest contribution may have been to make politically possible a single-payer solution. But that depends on electing a Biden administration and a Democratic Senate.

No one knows when we may be hit with another pandemic or some unforeseen natural cataclysm, but part of our preparation may lie in the adoption of a single-payer insurance plan. This may be the number one lesson learned from the pandemic.