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Hi John,
We need to do more to support people where they are. What that means in practice can vary wildly from neighborhood to neighborhood. What it means to us in Philadelphia is something we are talking about every day as I meet folks and organizations doing hard work in this space.
Some things are clear. There is room for Philadelphia to be creative and helpful in ways it has not.
We can do what Toledo, Ohio did, and buy the medical debt of people in Philadelphia who need help from communities that have been denied access to healthcare generation after generation.
Toledo spent just $800k to save citizens hundreds of millions in debt. Other cities are exploring creating municipal public option health coverage for people who need it. We need these kinds of programs in Philadelphia.
And we must open community-based public hospitals – not close them. People need urgent care now (during a pandemic) more than ever. And denying patients the treatment they need by closing down their only option for miles condemns people to die.
I talked about what impacts the closing Hahnemann, Philadelphia's only public hospital, has had on the community here on The Young Turks last week.
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