INDEPENDENT MUSLIM WOMEN'S ALLIANCE PAC Issued the following announcement on April 10.
Joe Biden has unveiled two proposals in what he calls a step towards easing the "economic burden on working people" in the wake of Bernie Sanders' exit from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, but the moves are far more conservative than the ones at the centre of his progressive rival's campaign and crucial to his supporters.
The former vice president has proposed lowering the age eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 60 and eliminating student debt for some lower-income families, moves that he says "will not only help people right now when they may need the help most, but will also help people find more secure footing in the long term once we have emerged" from the coronavirus crisis.
His plans are likely an effort to court the Vermont senator's legion of supporters, but the proposals barely scratch what Mr Sanders has proposed — extending Medicare to all Americans to replace the private health insurance market and cancelling all college loan debt.
Mr Biden's Medicare proposal also is more conservative than one floated by Hillary Clinton just four years ago. As the then-presidential candidate, she suggested lowering the eligibility to 50. Under her idea, people aged 50 to 55 could to "buy in" to the program.
Instead, Mr Biden has proposed that because older, unemployed Americans will likely face challenges securing jobs with employer-provided health insurance, they should "have access, if they choose, to Medicare when they turn 60, instead of when they turn 65" through his
Analysts estimate that as many as 35 million Americans could lose their health insurance following unprecedented unemployment claims and business closures during the coronavirus pandemic, which already has cut thousands of workers from their health plans tied to their employers.
The latest projection from Health Management Associates shows the number of uninsured people in the US, including workers and their families who rely on employer-backed plans, could skyrocket. The report says enrolment in Medicaid, a government health plan for poor Americans, could increase from 71 million people to as much as 94 million within the next several months.
Nearly a tenth of American workers have filed unemployment insurance claims, according to Thursday's job report.
Original source here.
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