Closing Argument on Health
The Biden Administration has focused its efforts on vaccinating as many as are willing to get the Covid shots and the boosters, getting Paxlovid treatment to those who get Covid, and helping people get back to work and kids get back to school and recover their lost learning. As a result many more are vaccinated and many more are surviving Covid.
The Biden Administration has not been effective in counteracting the misinformation about vaccine efficacy and safety among the anti-vax, but has been effective in increasing vaccination rates among Hispanics and African Americans. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-by-race-ethnicity/ Those still remaining unvaccinated are experiencing highly elevated hospitalization and death rates; however they are making those choices in the face of extensive efforts to reach, educate, explain, and persuade them to get vaccinated. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-compare-covid-deaths-for-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-people/ The partisan divide on vaccinations, masking and social distancing are causing significantly elevated death rates among Republicans. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-death-rates-higher-republicans-democrats-why-rcna50883
The Biden Administration has increased subsidies and decreased out of pocket costs for those enrolling in the ACA. This has reduced the nation’s uninsured. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/08/02/new-hhs-report-shows-national-uninsured-rate-reached-all-time-low-in-2022.html The differences in uninsured rates among states are stark. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/09/uninsured-rate-declined-in-28-states.html Those 14 primarily Southern states who chose not to make the Medicaid expansion available to their citizens have an uninsured rate that is nearly twice as high, as the 36 plus DC who have opted for coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act. At the extremes, Massachusetts has 2.5% uninsured residents, while 18% of Texans remain uninsured.
The Biden Administration has reduced out of pocket costs for prescription drugs for seniors and reduced federal spending and the federal budget deficit by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors and the disabled. https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/explaining-the-prescription-drug-provisions-in-the-inflation-reduction-act/
Covid: We have had recurring outbreaks of Covid; it has morphed into multiple variants of varying infectiousness and lethality. At the moment, we are in a lull, which could be due to increasing vaccinations and the widespread infections of Americans over the past two and a half years. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html This could change during the coming winter and the holiday season, and we could re-experience widespread outbreaks.