Pandemic reveals need to see health care as a right

Imagine you're one of 500 employees working for a company with good health care benefits. You have high blood pressure or diabetes, but it's under control thanks to the prescription coverage you get through your job. Now imagine that the economy is in a mild downturn and you get a notice that you are being laid-off. Suddenly your income and health care benefits are gone, and your ability to manage your blood pressure or diabetes evaporates.

Now imagine that happening to 10 million workers overnight.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought into stark relief the fragility of a health care coverage system based on employment. As someone who has worked in the managed health care sector my entire career, I've seen far too often what happens to people's individual health and to our entire system when there is employment disruption.

Now, the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic far exceed any employment disruption we've seen to date. The Department of Labor reported that the number of new unemployment claims in the U.S. rose by over 10 million - in just two weeks - due to the effects of the pandemic.

While the scope of the coronavirus situation is unique, it exposes a major flaw in employment-dependent health care coverage: people will continue working even if that means risking personal and public health. That is something we should all be concerned about - especially during a global pandemic.

Addressing the challenges of caring for the thousands who are and will become sick with coronavirus is paramount and mitigating the heartbreaking loss of life wrought by the pandemic must be our top priority. Regardless of politics, it's time to recognize that the cracks in our current system put us all at risk. It's time for a serious national discussion that acknowledges health care coverage as a right.

State Sen. Ann Gillespie

Arlington Heights