Four Years of Better Health

Four years ago, in October of 2020, the United States reported more than 20 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 6.4 million people contracted the virus during the month. American workers had not experienced this deadly or disruptive of a pandemic since the 1918 flu pandemic, and they felt it. In addition to the lives lost, work was limited from construction projects that were paused to meet states’ shelter-in-place orders to cities where our crafts were considered “non-essential” work, nobody needs a reminder of how challenging the COVID-19 pandemic was on BAC members.

Then President Donald Trump’s disastrous initial handling of the pandemic and subsequent COVID19 vaccine roll out slowed the return to work for many BAC members and their families. Trump set a goal to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of 2020. However, by the end of 2020, fewer than three million Americans, most in the health care field, had received their first vaccine.

When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris entered the White House, the attitude changed on day one. They began the “war” on COVID, working tirelessly to get the American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed. And when passage of ARP was threatened by GOP obstruction, Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote that delivered relief to millions of Americans. This plan provided stimulus checks for families struggling during the pandemic, financial support for workers’ COBRA payments, saved our pensions, and supported the small business that kept our members working. It also facilitated access to COVID vaccines and important healthcare while Americans were still battling the raging virus, mutating to other variants, and reinfecting workers.

The American Rescue Plan created a national vaccination program to facilitate the safe reopening of most K-8 schools in the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris Administration. They also ensured that working Americans were protected by ensuring paid sick leave and allocating $50 billion to scale up COVID testing and ensured that any American could get free COVID tests as needed.

The Administration also expanded upon the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), requiring health plans to cover mental health benefits on the same terms as other types of medical care, improving access to essential mental health and substance abuse coverage for millions of Americans.

After the country’s health started to normalize, the Biden-Harris Administration did not stop fighting for our health, and passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which allowed for Medicare to negotiate lower prices for certain life-saving medications for seniors — lowering the cost of insulin to $35.

Now that President Biden has stepped aside and Vice President Harris has begun her campaign, she has already made key plans that if passed will continue improving the lives and health of BAC members and their families — including canceling medical debt for millions of Americans, and fight to lower the costs of other medications.

In contrast, Donald Trump’s advisors have published their dangerous Project 2025 agenda. It would repeal the parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that allowed Medicare to negotiate and lower drug prices, make it more difficult to qualify for Medicaid, and eliminate the Affordable Care Act.