Watch Katie Porter Relentlessly Grill CDC Chief Into Saying 'Yes' to Free COVID-19 Tests
Using a whiteboard and a deep breadth of knowledge regarding the costs of testing for the coronavirus, Representative Katie Porter peppered Trump administration officials into submission, finally causing them to cry uncle and commit to free testing for Americans “regardless of insurance.”
During a Thursday House hearing on the government’s reaction to the coronavirus, the Democratic representative from California first ran through a number of questions to Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dr. Robert Kadlec regarding out-of-pocket costs for the uninsured for COVID-19 tests and hospital costs. He did not fare well.
Porter added up the costs she’d just demonstrated on her whiteboard and went on to explain how they could reach as high as $4000 for one uninsured family. She said that “fear of these costs are going to keep people from being tested, from getting the care they need. And from keeping their communities safe.”
Porter continued, “We live in a world where 40 percent of Americans can’t even afford a $400 unexpected expense. We live in a world where 33 percent of Americans put off medical treatment last year, and we have $1,133 expense, conservatively, just for testing for the coronavirus.”
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