Under the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the unemployment rate in the United States is high. The U.S. Department of Labor announced on Thursday that the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week returned to above one million, far exceeding expectations. The recovery of the U.S. job market is still faltering. ——But a serious problem that ensues is that a large number of Americans have lost their medical insurance due to unemployment and cannot afford the huge cost of treatment of new coronary pneumonia; even Americans who still have medical insurance at the moment are still bills received Feel scared.
Janet Mendes, who was infected with the new coronary pneumonia, recovered and was discharged after being admitted to the hospital for a month. Recently, she was interviewed by a reporter from "Russia Today" TV station in New York.
Janet said that before she was discharged from the hospital, her family began to receive bills from the hospital one after another, and the total bills currently received are as high as nearly 400,000 US dollars, or about 2.73 million yuan. Excluding the medical insurance payment, she still has to pay more than 75,000 US dollars, which is about 520,000 yuan, and this is not all. Janet said that the hospital’s bills have not been completed, such as ambulance costs, first aid costs, and Radiology, cardiology, etc. are billed separately, and she is expected to pay US$6,000 to US$16,000 for this.
A reporter from the "Russia Today" TV station said in an interview that the US government previously announced that it would bear the cost of treatment for the new crown pneumonia, but you still received the bill.
Janet Mendes, a recovered COVID-19 patient, replied, “Yes, I am also surprised. I read the news and the government said don’t worry. If you are infected with COVID-19, we will help you pay the hospital bill. Then why do I have to bear such a large amount of expenses after I contracted the new coronary pneumonia, I got the new coronary pneumonia, and it is nothing else."
Deficiencies in the medical insurance system have plunged the U.S. epidemic into a vicious circle
For Americans with medical insurance, the medical expenses are still so difficult to bear. For Americans without medical insurance, it is even more astronomical. Analysts pointed out that the shortcomings of the US medical insurance system and the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic have formed a vicious circle-the epidemic has caused a large number of Americans to lose their jobs and lose their medical insurance. People without medical insurance choose not to go for testing or treatment because they cannot afford the cost. , Which exacerbated the risk of the spread of the epidemic, which is one of the reasons why the United States has been unable to control the epidemic.