Health Affairs October 9, 2020
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US health care system was already too expensive, too complex, and unfair to patients. The pandemic has exacerbated these weaknesses and highlighted the inequities and outright failures of our health care system. Congress provided funding to hospitals and other providers to help them weather this crisis, as they did for workers and employers. Financial support makes sense given the resources needed to provide care during the pandemic and the lost provider revenue from a decline in use. However, the billions of dollars poured into the system so far have largely served only to shore up a broken and unfair system. We are missing an opportunity to help shape the future health care system to...