Here & Now

How Uninsured Wisconsinites Are Dealing with COVID-19

Frederica Freyberg:

More than five million Americans workers have lost their health insurance due to the pandemic and that’s just between the months of February and May, according to a survey by the nonpartisan consumer health group Families USA. Those numbers can be added to the number of people who were not insured before the pandemic began. What are the implications of COVID for the uninsured? We asked Bobby Peterson, the executive director of ABC for Health, a nonprofit law firm that helps those in need find health plans. And Bobby, thanks for being here. Nice to see you.

Bobby Peterson:

Thank you. I’m glad to help.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the number we referenced was a national number, but clearly with loss of work Wisconsinites have lost coverage. Do you know in what number?

Bobby Peterson:

I don’t think we have precise numbers on it, but we know that unemployment rate is well over 10% and that a lot of people have been dislocated from work, which is where a lot of people get their health insurance. So it creates a chain reaction. Some people continued with their benefits for a month or two, but more and more are starting to lose coverage and looking for options.

Frederica Freyberg:

I think just in the last day or so, the unemployment rate ticked down with kind of the latest job numbers in Wisconsin to about 8.5%. Still bad. And of course there are lags and that kind of thing. But what are some of the kinds of stories that you’re hearing from people?

Bobby Peterson:

We’re getting calls from people that are trying to pivot from their private insurance, because they lost it through their job, to marketplace coverage. We’re looking at people that are trying to work through the eligibility process for BadgerCarePlus, people that may have health conditions that are struggling to identify coverage that might be through the marketplace or through a Medicaid disability program. It crosses the spectrum. We’re noticing, though, that people are facing more stress and anxiety because of health coverage and insurance related to the pandemic.

Frederica Freyberg:

So folks lose an employer-based plan. They might be eligible for COBRA. But that kind thing is very expensive, correct?

Bobby Peterson:

Yeah. That’s going to be carrying the full brunt of the premium and a lot of times it’s very unaffordable, especially with family type coverage. It’s quite expensive. It can be over $1,000 a month for an individual. So it gets beyond the budget.

Frederica Freyberg:

And yet folks can sign up because of their circumstance of losing a job for the marketplace under the Affordable Care Act. But we understand that you’re finding that some people are saying they can’t even afford those premiums. Aren’t they based on people’s income and shouldn’t they be affordable?

Bobby Peterson:

They should be affordable, but it’s a situation where people have, you know, multiple family members. Some people are working. Some people aren’t working. The primary health insurance is lost. There’s still income that might put them over some of the opportunities for tax credits and other subsidies. We encourage people to take a look at BadgerCarePlus as an option as a program that might be available, as well as looking at the marketplace.

Frederica Freyberg:

What happens if you are without insurance and you get infected with COVID-19 requiring hospital treatment? Do the bills just pile up?

Bobby Peterson:

There are some programs that are available through the federal CARES Act that allow people to get their testing and their treatment for COVID-related illnesses covered. So we’ve been referring people to those programs, working with health care providers to make sure they identify those folks and there’s eligibility for some of the services.

Frederica Freyberg:

You say that your website offers a lot of resources and questions and answers. What is your website?

Bobby Peterson:

Well, I was referring to a website that we partnered with the insurance commissioner’s office in covering Wisconsin. It’s WisCovered.com, and it provides a lot of information for people related to marketplace coverage, BadgerCarePlus and other options and information about how to get insurance and how to keep it.

Frederica Freyberg:

You describe seeing a lot of mental health issues arising from the stress, as you mentioned before, fatigue and economic insecurity. What’s your advice to people suffering under so much right now?

Bobby Peterson:

Well, I think it’s just, you know, we are — we hear this a lot, but we’re in this together. Try and work on your support networks. Identify people that can provide you with the assistance that you need. You know, there’s a multiplicity of issues. It’s medical debt, it’s loss of job, it’s housing and evictions. The structures out there are all under stress, as well as the individuals. But we have to try and do our best to pull together as a community.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Bobby Peterson, we just lost your audio for an instant there. The vagaries of this kind of remote production. But we appreciate your joining us and offering us information on this issue and resources for people out there who are struggling. Bobby Peterson, thanks very much.

Bobby Peterson:

Thank you. Glad to be here.