Dan Weissmann
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You’ve most likely seen that the U.S. economic system is crashing. What you may not anticipate is that nearly half of the financial devastation comes from only one sector — well being care.
That’s in accordance with a first-quarter 2020 estimate of U.S. gross home product from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which pundits later shared on social media.
Much of the slowdown got here after hospitals postponed elective surgical procedures and as Americans skip routine medical care to keep away from potential publicity to the coronavirus.
The episode contains interviews with Kaiser Health News senior correspondent Jenny Gold, who spoke with struggling pediatricians; and ProfessionalPublica reporter Isaac Arnsdorf, who discovered that even emergency room docs fighting COVID-19 aren’t proof against the financial downturn.
As a society, we’d like well being care staff like by no means earlier than to struggle COVID-19, however many medical professionals are feeling the monetary pinch due to the best way we pay for well being care on this nation.
Health care runs quite a bit just like the restaurant trade. When individuals cease displaying up for Sunday brunch — or for elective hip replacements, colonoscopies and face-lifts — the enterprise runs wanting money quick.
Episode 5 explores the COVID downturn, how well being care is fueling the recession and what that would imply for our wallets.
“SEASON-19” of “An Arm and a Leg” is a co-production of Kaiser Health News and Public Road Productions.
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