How Covid-19 Is Still A Big Factor In Presidential Politics – Forbes

President Joe Biden walks down the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, ... [+] Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Biden is returning to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Covid-19 has now been a factor in two second-term presidential campaigns. In November 2020, when the virus was raging throughout the world, and fears were at their peak, the country sought a return to normalcy and a plan to reduce health and economic turmoil was a key factor. Voters selected the Biden presidency to do that, and with no small irony, President Bidens run for a second term was given a blow by his own Covid-19 infection a cautionary reminder of the pathogens staying power over two presidencies.

This is a symptom of the challenge both providers and consumers in the U.S. healthcare system face. Immediate concerns are generated by the growing surge of Covid-19. Test positivity was 11% as of July 6, per the CDC, up from 9.1% the previous week. For context, this past winter's peak was 12%. A CDC map shows that test positivity is highest in California and the Southwest. Covid-19 related emergency room visits were up 23% in the past week and hospitalizations are rising steadily, per the CDC.

Long-Term term concerns are still evidenced by Covid-19 post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) also known at long Covid. And this is even among vaccinated persons who have had viral infections during the Omicron era. One study of more than 400,000 infected U.S. Veterans published on July 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine continued to raise these concerns about long Covid.

Healthcare providers are facing new challenges that could affect their ability to respond to this pandemic. According to a May 24 report by the American Hospital Association, hospitals and health systems incurred significant underpayments for several essential and complex health care services in 2023. They also are facing mounting administrative burdens and costs, due to commercial health insurer practices like prior authorization and denials. At the same time, health insurance costs to consumers have grown twice as fast as hospital prices in 2023 and the industry is in the throes of the biggest M&A wave in more than a decade, with healthcare deal activity having grown 42% since 2010.

Pharmaceutical drug prices are rising and shortages are increasing. The yearly median list price of pharmaceutical drugs has risen 35% over the previous year. There was an average of 301 drug shortages per quarter last year, the most in a decade.

Labor costs, which on average account for 60% of a hospitals budget, increased by more than $42.5 billion between 2021 and 2023. Even at higher wages, staffing is becoming a problem. Hospitals cant function without nurses. According to a report by McKinsey & Company, by 2025, the United States may face a shortage of 200,000 to 450,000 nurses available for direct patient care, equating to a 10% to 20% gap.

Even the payment system for hospitals and physicians is undergoing fundamental changes. Payers are now encouraging providers to move toward value-based care arrangements, which pay hospitals and physicians based on patient health outcome rather than fees for service. It remains to be seen if these value-based models will really achieve better outcomes and cost savings. Still, if they do or dont, its estimated that VBC reimbursement will grow from between 80 and 100 million patients in 2022 to between 130 and 160 million in 2027.

Covid-19 is continuing to have a profound effect on every facet of our society, from children to adults. Children who became addicted to social media during the stay-at-home mandate during the pandemic have suffered a lack of social development. Between these post-pandemic issues and many who have long-term effects of Covid-19, we are still seeing fundamental changes to the economics of healthcare. Think of what another national pandemic could do?

Some have openly argued that Covid-19 may have given President Biden the excuse needed to withdraw from a difficult campaign without admitting defeat. Even if this is true, the reality is that another virus will challenge us soon enough. We have learned very little from dealing with Covid-19 and now, Avian Influenza (H5N1) is becoming the specter that our healthcare system really needs to understand. H5N1 is a highly pathogenic virus that is steadily spreading, and human-to-human transmission is no longer abstract. From birds to cows to pigs, it is adapting to animals that could be gateways to widespread human infection.

Detection may even have gotten worse than before Covid-19, as we are only surveying wastewater to track the spread of H5N1. What we need is the development of multiplex diagnostics, real-world vaccines and next-generation anti-viral therapies today. We can only ameliorate another pandemics impact, by planning and implementing protective and preventive measures before the crisis begins. The consequences of not doing so may be far more unsettling than even the change in the presidential race we have just witnessed.

Originally posted here:

How Covid-19 Is Still A Big Factor In Presidential Politics - Forbes