By TOMER BEN-KIKI
The American people can’t afford partisan politics that increase long-term healthcare costs.
When the GOP came to the table with a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal last week, I was pleased to see that they had increased funding for broadband access to $68 billion.
The President wants $100 billion for broadband expansion, but a meaningful increase before the soft deadline of June 7 was a positive step.
Politics aside, the pandemic made it clear how dependent we are on the issue of broadband internet access.after all, broadband underpinned nearly everything that was done to keep the economy on life-support during the lock-downs.
Without broadband access our ability to deliver education, run most businesses, and (most importantly) deliver healthcare, would have slowed to a glacial pace or – in some cases – ground to a halt.
The fact that the healthcare industry was able to make a lighting-speed pivot to telehealth during the COVID epidemic shows how quickly the government, insurers and providers can respond to deliver needed care. But, that pivot also exposed how social determinants of health, like economic stability and the built environment, still present serious challenges to care delivery for our most vulnerable populations.
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