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Now this is where a single-payer healthcare system would matter. Health insurers should simply pick up the costs for these tests. https://twitter.com/AnnaDavisAbel/status/1245448322044899328
Single-payer healthcare would not have stopped Trump's incompetence in managing the pandemic response. If anything, as seen in how he has managed the national medical stockpile, he would use single-payer to commit genocide and punish opponents. https://twitter.com/sangerkatz/status/1245493935113474049
When it comes to payment for diagnostic testing, that's a different story. The current system of private and public health insurers is a mess, with various companies having different standards for what they constitute to be costs to be covered versus ones that people must pay.
That said, even a single-payer system could end up fouling this up. Especially if the person in charge of the entire system decides to foul it up deliberately. https://twitter.com/tznkai/status/1245712311064690689
The current pandemic is, in many ways, a terrible test case for advocating for single payer. Most nations have single payer, yet the responses to the pandemic have differed greatly. Britain and Italy have been utterly incompetent. South Korea and Taiwan? More effective.
The current pandemic is more of an argument for why we should elect competent people to high office. In a disaster, incompetence that is somewhat acceptable during good times is catastrophic. That's what separates the U.S., Britain and Italy from Taiwan and South Korea.
More perspective on the specific case at the beginning of this thread... https://twitter.com/tznkai/status/1245713690541858818
Additionally, this is the situation in which a German-style regulator overseeing provider rates would be most-helpful if we keep the current model of healthcare coverage. But SCOTUS would rule the existence of that agency a violation of antitrust. https://twitter.com/tznkai/status/1245714501334425600
