What We Are Reading on the Economy
McCourt School faculty share what they have been reading to stay informed on the latest news about the American economy
COVID-19 has impacted all parts of the American economy. From education finance to healthcare and the workforce, the impact of the virus is far-reaching. McCourt School faculty continue to offer insight and resources to help guide policy and navigate the new normal.
Here’s what faculty and staff are reading in the news this week:
Education Finance
A free college plan that pays for itself
Marguerite Roza, The Hill
As the national debt soars with pandemic bailouts, ideas like free college drift further from the headlines. Meanwhile, the effects of the economic carnage mean that college goers and student loan payers are falling further into debt. But what if there were a way to pay for college that didn’t boost federal debt or further burden taxpayers?
How Lawmakers Can Raise Teacher Pay Without Decimating Pension Funds
Marguerite Roza, Forbes
Lawmakers can’t make lost assets reappear. But they can take a step that will reduce future losses and protect pensions: make any near-term teacher raises non-pensionable. Such a step could save governments billions. Down the road, those savings could protect K-12 teachers and students from cuts needed to service the debt.
How the coronavirus shutdown will affect school district revenues
Marguerite Roza, Brookings Institution Brown Center Chalkboard
Facing a pandemic-triggered economic slowdown, U.S. school districts now need to consider doing something they haven’t had to do in recent budget boom years: Draft a budget that assumes they’re headed for a financial fall.
Don’t abandon standardized testing in schools next year — rethink it
Thomas Toch, The Hill
Policymakers should resist these pressures. Just as widespread coronavirus testing will guide our return to normal life, state testing systems have a valuable role to play in helping leaders map education strategy, track progress and back the nation’s neediest students. But attaching stakes to test results too quickly would play into the hands of accountability opponents at a time when we need smart testing more than ever.
Schools need flexibility in coronavirus stabilization funds
Nora Gordon and Sarah Reber, Brookings Institution Brown Center Chalkboard
Congress should aim to replace missing state funding so that schools can best serve students in whatever format makes sense under highly variable and changing local conditions, with special care to protect the most vulnerable students.
Healthcare
Jessica Corbet, Common Dreams
Despite the insurance company’s ultimate reversal in Regan’s case, “he’s definitely not alone” in being hit with surprise bills related to Covid-19, Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms, told KHN. “The takeaway here is both the provider as well as insurance company are still on a learning curve with respect to this virus and how to bill and pay for it.”
Child vaccinations down across the country amid coronavirus fears
John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, Olivia Rubin, Jay Bhatt and Allison Pecorin, ABC News
Joan Alker, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, warned the drop in vaccinations might lead to “mini epidemics” of other childhood diseases, such as measles. “And this fall, it will be critical to ensure that kids and adults get flu shots when another wave of COVID is expected,” Alker added.
Medicaid Work Requirements: News from the Litigation Front
Andy Schneider, Georgetown Center for Children and Families
It has been obvious for several months that the wheels have come off the Medicaid work requirements bus. The Secretary of HHS has approved “demonstrations” of work requirements in nine states; none of these states is currently implementing. And no state that accepts the 6.2 percentage point increase in its federal Medicaid matching rate made available by the Families First Act can do so as long as the maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement remains in place.
During the COVID-19 Crisis, State Health Insurance Marketplaces Are Working to Enroll the Uninsured
Rachel Schwab, Justin Giovannelli, and Kevin Lucia, The Commonwealth Fund
The economic shutdown due to COVID-19 prompted an unprecedented spike in unemployment, with more than 33 million people filing claims since mid-March. Alongside this widespread job loss, the health insurance safety net is being stretched to accommodate the rapid increase in people in need of coverage. The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) marketplaces, along with Medicaid, are important tools in covering the newly uninsured.
Employment Outlook
We Should Help Workers, Not Kill Them
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
“One thing I keep hearing, however, is that we must reopen for the sake of workers, who need to start earning wages again to put food on their families’ tables. So it’s important to realize that this is a really bad argument…”
The Pandemic Is Inspiring A Wave Of Unionization Efforts. Will It Lead To Greater Protections?
Eliza Berkon, WAMU
“Historically, recessions have not been good times to organize because that’s the time when workers are so fearful of losing their job that they don’t want to do anything to rock the boat,” says Georgetown University public policy professor Harry Holzer, who also is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and served as Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Labor during the Clinton administration.