Here's the full transcript (verbatim) of Joe Biden's exchange with Lawrence O'Donnell about whether he'd veto some version of Medicare for All if it were to actually pass the House and Senate:
O'Donnell: "Let's flash forward: You're President, Bernie Sanders is still active in the Senate, he manages to get Medicare for All through the Senate; it's some compromise version, Elizabeth Warren's version or some other version...Nancy Pelosi gets a version of it through the House of Representatives; it comes to your desk. Do you veto it?"
Biden (after pausing to choose his words carefully): "I would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of healthcare being available now. If they got that through and, some miracle, there was an epiphany that occurred, and some miracle occurred that said, 'it's passed', then you gotta look at the cost. I'd want to know how did they find the $35 trillion? What is that doing? Is it gonna significantly raise taxes on the middle class, which it will? What's gonna happen?
Washington becomes 1st state-based marketplace to create a special enrollment opportunity in wake of coronavirus threat.https://t.co/2bYCrboXvl@GtownCHIR
"So, we've told you...we'll tell you what we know and don't know. So there's different types of tests which get sent out. The CDC's test that CDC is sending out, that's that 70...enough to send out 75,000 people, that was sent out last week. Those go to public health labs, about 80 labs in the United States, one in each state at least. Those report results back in to the CDC because they're part of the public health network. The larger quantity of tests that shipped, about 900,000 of the tests that shipped by this weekend, and then so many of the remainder of that 2 point...total, 2.1 million tests...those go to hospitals, private labs, others for testing...they don't currently have to report to us that they've conducted a test or what the result of that test is. The CDC is actively working right now to build that IT connectivity with them so we can gather that information. So right now...I could not give you a number of how many Americans have received a test because many will have received a test through hospitals or non-public health labs, and so...let's work with getting the system, the IT system up through the CDC, you want to get the accurate information as we go.
SEC. 2713. COVERAGE OF PREVENTIVE HEALTH SERVICES.
(a) In General.--A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall, at a minimum provide coverage for and shall not impose any cost sharing requirements for--
(1) evidence-based items or services that have in effect a rating of 'A' or 'B' in the current recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force;
(2) immunizations that have in effect a recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with respect to the individual involved; and
Governor Lamont Announces First Positive Case of Novel Coronavirus Involving a Connecticut Resident
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today announced that the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) State Laboratory has confirmed the first presumptive positive case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) involving a Connecticut resident. The patient, a resident of Wilton who is 40 to 50 years of age, is being treated at Danbury Hospital. The person most likely became infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 during a recent trip to California and sought medical care shortly after returning to Connecticut.
This presumptive COVID-19 case is not related to the COVID-19 case involving a Danbury Hospital employee who is a resident of New York State that was announced on Friday, or the COVID-19 case involving a community physician who made rounds at Bridgeport Hospital and is also a New York State resident that was announced on Saturday.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan health insurers said Friday they will cover the cost of medically necessary tests for the new coronavirus for people covered under employer and individual health plans, while Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the waiving of testing and treatment fees for Medicaid recipients.
...Plans that will waive copays and deductibles for testing costs include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Blue Care Network, Priority Health, CVS Health, McLaren and Meridian, according to the governor’s office. The change will not apply — for now — to large employers that self-insure but use insurance companies to administer their benefits.
...Blue Cross Blue Shield will forgo prior authorization rules for diagnostic tests and covered services to treat the disease, set aside refill limits on prescriptions, and expand access to telehealth and a 24-hour nurse hotline.
TO ALL HEALTH INSURERS AND HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS AUTHORIZED TO DO BUSINESS IN FLORIDA
~ INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) ~
In response to the Executive Order #2020-51 issued by Governor Ron DeSantis establishing COVID-19 response protocols and directing a public health emergency in Florida, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) is issuing this Informational Memorandum to all health insurers authorized to do business in Florida to help facilitate the state’s ongoing efforts to protect Floridians.
California orders insurers to waive out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus testing
California on Thursday became the latest state to order insurance companies to waive out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus testing.
The California Department of Insurance and Department of Managed Health Care ordered all full-service commercial and Medi-Cal plans to “immediately reduce cost-sharing — including, but not limited to, co-pays, deductibles or coinsurance — to zero for all medically necessary screening and testing for COVID-19, including hospital, emergency department, urgent care and provider office visits where the purpose of the visit is to be screened and/or tested for COVID-19.”
Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation notes:
At a town hall meeting on Fox News Thursday, President Donald Trump acknowledged that his administration intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.
“We — when these trade deals kick in, you know this economy is the best economy we’ve ever had. It’s nothing to what it’s going to be when the trade deals kick in,” said Trump.
“But if you don’t cut something in entitlements, you’ll never really deal with that,” said the questioner.
“We’ll be cutting, but we’re also going to have growth like you’ve never had before,” said Trump.
Ah. Just what you want in the middle of a reelection campaign and a deadly pandemic outbreak.
Vice-President Mike Pence, best known for botching the response to an HIV outbreak while Governor of Indiana (causing up to 200 additional residents to be infected with the disease due to his poor handling of it) has, naturally, now been put in charge of the federal response to the #COVID19 outbreak nationally:
On Wednesday February 26, President Trump placed Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the response to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. The gesture was partly politics—signaling the disease was important enough to require the vice president’s attention—but also built on a claim about Pence’s expertise as the former governor of Indiana. As he assigned him to this task, the president praised Pence, maintaining that Indiana under his leadership was a model for the country in its approach to health.
