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**SEPTEMBER 14, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

Lost Health Insurance Should Be a Front-Page Political Issue

****

According to the Economic Policy Institute
,
upward of six million workers have lost employer-provided health
insurance since the pandemic began. Since most workers have families,
the total number of people who've lost coverage likely exceeds double
that, or more than 12 million.

A pandemic, needless to say, is a hell of a time for people to be
without health insurance. Out-of-work people are often not quite poor
enough for Medicaid, and even the low-cost "bronze" plans available
under the Affordable Care Act are far from affordable once you factor in
high deductibles and co-pays.

This is a major scandal. However, the bigger scandal is the fact that
the HEROES Act, passed by the House in May, pays the total cost of
allowing laid-off workers to keep their employer coverage, but
Republicans keep blocking its enactment.

The substitute bill brought to the Senate floor by Mitch McConnell last
week, which failed to get the necessary 60 votes, did not include a dime
to help unemployed workers and their families with health coverage.

What's even more scandalous is that Republicans keep escaping
political accountability for blocking corona relief. Joe Biden needs to
be making a major issue of this, and every Democrat running for the
House or Senate should be hanging it around the Republicans' neck.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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The Congressional Black Caucus: Necessary but Not Sufficient

On the eve of the group's 50th anniversary, the new progressives must
push the group to be bolder about the problems facing African Americans.
BY GABRIELLE GURLEY

If Biden Wins, Democrats Must Lean In to Partisanship

The truth is that if you have power, being partisan is precisely how you
get things done. BY PAUL WALDMAN

How Virginia Made Voting Easier and Fairer

Since Democrats took power in 2019, they've made the state a model for
user-friendly voting. BY BRITTANY GIBSON

Unsanitized: The Building of the Second Wave

Plus, an inaccurate mailer from the Postal Service. This is The COVID-19
Daily Report for September 14, 2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

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