Biden will help support a healthier Michigan
Vice President Biden’s most recent visit to Oakland County serves as a reminder that Michiganders have the ability to influence their health and the economy and it starts with the stark choice for president on Nov. 3. A new partner in the White House could help Michiganders better prevent illness and improve their health.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan’s uninsured rate in 2019 was 5.8%, tied for 10th lowest nationwide. The low uninsured rate reflects the success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which helped the state create a health insurance exchange and expand Medicaid.
Specifically, the state’s Medicaid expansion program (Healthy Michigan), created through a bipartisan compromise, has increased access to primary care providers and preventive services, reduced the number of beneficiaries in “fair or poor health,” increased their rate of employment, and boosted financial health, allwhile generating economic benefit to Michigan.
Vice President Biden would build on the gains of the ACA by increasing affordability in the individual markets, creating a public option, and lowering the age of eligibility for Medicare to 60.
President Trump, however, has spent four years sabotaging the ACA leading to more Michiganders being uninsured and is now backing a lawsuit to repeal the law, despite offering no replacement plan or pathway to protect the millions of Michiganders with pre-existing conditions.
COVID-19 offers another contrast between the two presidential candidates. Vice President Biden has issued a series of plans on how he would lead us out of the pandemic. This includes trusting scientists on when a vaccine will be ready so that there is confidence and future uptake of the vaccine and establishing a COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force to address disparities in the public health and economic response.
Biden has also promised to set up a Pandemic Testing Board to increase production and distribution of COVID-19 tests and to utilize the Defense Production Act proactively to ensure that health care professionals have the personal protective equipment and critical medicalmaterial they need to safely provide the best care.
Unfortunately, President Trump has stewarded a passive and uncoordinated federal response, and he has personally spread misinformation and modeled unsafe practices, such as not always wearing a mask in public.
Finally, while we’re in the middle of a pandemic, the nation is still also in the midst of an opioid epidemic which claimed the lives of roughly 50,000 Americans in 2019. Michigan’s opioid overdose death rate is higher than the national average, and the state is experiencing significantly higher emergency responses for opioid overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s critical that Michigan receives additional federal support.
Vice President Biden has an ambitious $125 billion plan to make effective prevention, treatment, and recovery services available to all Americans. His plan would also reform the criminal justice system so that no one is incarcerated for drug use alone. On President Trump’s watch, in 2019 provisional drug overdose deaths in this country soared to their highest levels ever. And this occurred prior to COVID-19.
Beyond these key issues, Vice President Biden has plans for reducing the costs of prescription drugs, ending gun violence, and building a caregiver workforce. But they are more than plans — they show he fundamentally cares about the issues affecting all Americans, not just his supporters.
We know that the path to prosperity in Michigan starts with good health which leads to more jobs and economic growth. This November, let’s select a partner in thewhite House that can help lead Michiganders to better health.