The threat of the coronavirus has thrown our country’s lack of protective labor policies into sharp relief. And this has P4A researchers talking:
“It’s very clear: When people don’t have access to sick leave, they go to work sick and spread diseases,” said Nicolas Ziebarth in the New York Times. Ziebarth and coauthors Catherine Maclean and Stefan Pichler just published a new working paper showing that when employees are offered sick leave, they take it—with little effect on an employer’s bottom line.
Other P4A researchers are also weighing in:
“For a condition like coronavirus, where self-quarantining at home is a mainstay of containing the infection, financial and social barriers make it particularly hard for lower-income families.”
—Benjamin Sommers in Vice
“The current fear over the coronavirus has brought to the fore this lack of a safety net.”
—William Dow in Marketplace
“Someone’s got to figure out how they’re going to [temporarily mandate paid sick leave], because if they don’t, it’s going to be inequitable and ineffective. Equity and effectiveness go together in these situations.”
—Scott Burris in Wired
“It’s not enough to have an official [paid sick leave] policy. It has to be a policy that people feel they can use.”
—Kristen Harknett in the New York Times
Seeking research on housing policies that promote equity
Policies for Action has just opened a new call for proposals to understand how policy can affect racial equity in housing and neighborhood conditions. Proposals should investigate the effectiveness of state, county, and city public policies designed to increase housing affordability and stability, address racial segregation and isolation from opportunity, and increase access to opportunity-rich neighborhoods and place-based resources.
Letters of intent are due April 29, 2020. Register for P4A’s informational webinar on March 30 to learn more.
The Affordable Care Act turns 10
The Affordable Care Act, which turns 10 on March 23, dramatically changed Medicaid, making it available to millions of previously ineligible low-income adults. As some states continue debating whether to expand Medicaid and policymakers propose more changes to the program, it is critical to know how the program is working and what the potential effects of major changes would be.
Medicaid work requirements: Where do we go from here?
P4A researchers Benjamin Sommers and Heidi Allen authored a piece for the JAMA Forum on South Carolina’s recent approval to institute work requirements for low-income parents. Building on their research in Arkansas, the team cautions that South Carolina—and any other states considering work requirements in Medicaid—attend closely to how it requires people to report their “community engagement,” as this seems to be key to preventing unnecessary coverage losses.
