根据一项新的研究，预计超过700万美国人将在冠状病毒大流行期间失去健康保险，而超过150万人已经失去保险。

这项分析发表在周二的权威杂志上内科年鉴学术期刊，由哈佛医学院和纽约城市大学亨特学院的研究人员主持。这项研究基于已经报道的失业申请，结合未来几周失业申请的预计增长，估计了健康保险的损失。

据估计，约有150万美国工人在失业后失去了保险，研究人员预计，随着失业人数预计将攀升，到6月底，还会有570万人失去保险。研究人员指出，反对扩大《平价医疗法案》(ACA)的保守州，通常被称为奥巴马医改，可能会受到最严重的打击。

“在拒绝了《病人保护和平价医疗法案》医疗补助扩展的州，保险损失可能会最大。该研究的作者写道:“在经济扩张的州，失业或离职人员中缺乏保险的比例为22.1%，而就业人员中这一比例为8.3%，相差13.8个百分点。”。

“在非扩张州，这类失业人员的无保险率为38.4%，而就业人员为15.8%，相差22.6个百分点。换句话说，在非扩张州，近四分之一的新失业工人可能会失去保险，使他们的总体保险率接近40%，”他们指出。

4月7日，身穿个人防护装备的医护人员将COVID-19患者卸下，送往纽约布朗克斯区的蒙特菲奥里医疗中心摩西校区。

在这场大流行中，失业人数激增至新记录。在截至3月21日的一周内，有330万人申请失业保险，与2009年大萧条最严重时期的66.5万人相比相形见绌。但一周后，当两倍的工人——660万人——在截至3月28日的一周内申请失业时，这一记录再次被打破。截至4月4日的一周的下一份报告将于周四发布，一些分析师预计新的索赔数量将与上周大致相同。

“COVID-19流行病凸显了将医疗保险与工作挂钩的愚蠢。该研究的合著者、初级保健医生、亨特学院教授、哈佛医学院讲师斯特菲·伍尔德勒博士在一份声明中说:“我们的医疗保健系统在人们最无力支付医疗费的时候，却让他们背上了沉重的负担。”新闻周刊。

“美国的健康保险就像一把在雨中融化的雨伞，”医生补充道。

立法者和活动家对数百万美国人健康保险的巨大损失表示担忧，并提出了不同的解决方案。数千万美国人已经没有保险或保险不足，这一事实使问题变得更加复杂，甚至在大流行期间，也有可能阻止他们寻求医疗保健。尽管国会通过了免费冠状病毒检测的立法，但如果检测呈阳性，未投保的个人可能仍需要支付治疗费用。

民主党总统候选人、前副总统乔·拜登认为，随着流感大流行的继续，必须重新开放美国艾滋病协会的保险登记，同时呼吁对冠状病毒患者的治疗是免费的。他的前竞争对手佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯退出比赛周三，他推动扩大医疗保险和医疗补助计划以覆盖未投保人群。

在一次采访中国家桑德斯在周二发表的文章中说，联邦政府应该扩大这些计划，以“覆盖或补充这个国家的所有保险计划——底线是，在这场危机中，人们不应该从口袋里拿出钱来用于医疗保健。”

大卫·希梅尔斯坦博士是这项新研究的共同作者，他是亨特学院的内科医生和教授，也是哈佛医学院的讲师，他提出了一个类似桑德斯提出的解决这个问题的计划。

“在这种紧急情况下，国会应该让所有没有保险的人自动有资格享受医疗保险，”希梅尔斯坦告诉记者新闻周刊。

唐纳德·特朗普总统表示，政府将通过向医院返还冠状病毒治疗费用来覆盖那些没有保险的人。他上周五宣布，国会3月份批准的2.2万亿美元刺激资金的一部分将用于这一目的。

总统在新闻发布会上说:“这应该会减轻未投保的美国人对寻求冠状病毒治疗的担忧。”。

OVER 7 MILLION AMERICANS TO LOSE HEALTH INSURANCE DURING CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, 1.5 MILLION HAVE ALREADY LOST COVERAGE, NEW STUDY PREDICTS

More than 7 million Americans are expected to lose their health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic, while more than 1.5 million are already estimated to have lost coverage, according to a new study.

The analysis, published Tuesday in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine academic journal, was conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the City University of New York's Hunter College. The research estimated health insurance losses based on already reported unemployment claims, combined with the projected increase in jobless claims over the coming weeks.

With about 1.5 million American workers already estimated to have lost coverage after becoming unemployed, an additional 5.7 million are projected by the researchers to lose their coverage by the end of June, as unemployment claims are expected to climb. The researchers noted that conservative states that have opposed expanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, are likely to be the hardest hit.

"Coverage losses are likely to be steepest in states that have turned down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. In expansion states, the share of persons who have lost or left a job who lacked coverage was 22.1% versus 8.3% for employed persons—a difference of 13.8 percentage points," the study's authors wrote.

"In nonexpansion states, the uninsurance rate among such unemployed persons was 38.4% versus 15.8% for employed persons—a difference of 22.6 percentage points. In other words, nearly 1 in 4 newly unemployed workers in nonexpansion states are likely to lose coverage, bringing their overall uninsurance rate to nearly 40%," they noted.

Medics wearing personal protective equipment unload COVID-19 patients arriving at the Montefiore Medical Center Moses Campus on April 7 in New York City's Bronx borough.

Unemployment claims have surged to new records amid the pandemic. During the week ending March 21, a massive 3.3 million people applied for unemployment insurance, dwarfing the 665,000 claims that came at the height of the Great Recession in 2009. But a week later, that record was broken again when twice as many workers—6.6 million—filed for unemployment for the week ending March 28. The next report, for the week ending April 4, will be released on Thursday, and some analysts expect the number of new claims to be about the same as the previous week.

"The COVID-19 epidemic highlights the folly of tying health coverage to jobs. Our health care system saddles people with medical bills when they're least able to afford them because they've been laid off or are too sick to work," the study's co-author Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a primary care doctor and professor at Hunter College and lecturer at Harvard Medical School, said in a statement emailed to Newsweek.

"Health insurance in the U.S. is like an umbrella that melts in the rain," the physician added.

Lawmakers and activists have raised concerns about the drastic loss of health insurance for millions of Americans, offering varying solutions. The problem is compounded by the fact that tens of millions of Americans were already uninsured or under-insured, potentially preventing them from seeking medical care even amid the pandemic. While Congress passed legislation to make coronavirus testing free, uninsured individuals may still be required to pay for treatment if they test positive.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, has argued that enrollment for insurance through the ACA must be reopened as the pandemic continues, while also calling for treatment for coronavirus patients to be free. His former rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who dropped out of the race on Wednesday, has pushed for expanding Medicare and Medicaid to cover the uninsured.

In an interview with The Nation published on Tuesday, Sanders said the federal government should expand the programs to "either cover or supplement all of the insurance programs in this country—the bottom line being that, in this crisis, people should not have to take money out of their pockets for health care."

Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the new study who is an internist and professor at Hunter College as well as a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, proposed a plan like that put forward by Sanders to address the problem.

"In this emergency, Congress should make all of the uninsured automatically eligible for Medicare," Himmelstein told Newsweek.

President Donald Trump has said that the government will cover those who are uninsured by refunding hospitals for their coronavirus treatment. He announced last Friday that the part of the $2.2 trillion stimulus money approved by Congress in March will go for this purpose.

"That should alleviate any concern uninsured Americans may have about seeking the coronavirus treatment," the president said at a press briefing.