Health Care and Katrina

The good folks over at The Next Hurrah have been running a microanalysis of Katrina. The big problems -- food, water, sanitation, shelter, and so forth are being batted about amongst big minds and budgetary gatekeepers, but what of all the minor-yet-major disruptions that the drowning of a whole way of life brings about? TNH is giving them some thought, and DHinMI kindly asked me to participate in their impromptu think tank, so I'll chime in with the bit that's -- no surprise -- grabbed me: Health care.

Most Louisianans got their insurance through their workplaces, workplaces that're now charter members of Atlantis's Chamber of Commerce. Of those that can keep paying -- say, multinationals, large firms, and the like -- the displaced are going to be far out of tier and unsure how to use insurance policies that they'd never before had to access outside state borders. That is, of course, to say nothing of those who used government programs, no programs, local insurers, and all the rest. Many will still have some functioning form of coverage, but more won't, and almost all will be terrifically confused.

This is one spot the government could quickly, easily, and effectively step in. A public announcement that all those displaced could sign up for a special subsection of COBRA or Medicaid would squelch the confusion and assure families they could take their children to the doctor. It would, of course, be a transitional measure, an opt-in program that'd phase itself out as the city clambers back to its feet. But it'd nevertheless make a massive difference in sorting out what must be a massive source of anxiety, particularly as cholera's cousin and a host of other microbiotic gremlins begin winding their way across the flood's diaspora.

In that sense, this should be a priority of society at large. The last thing the previously-unaffected should want are for long-buried diseases to start spreading from the refugee population into the wider world. That could be disastrous. And if those seeking shelter and unsure about their coverage decide not to risk their bank accounts with a potentially-uninsured trip to the doctor, it's exactly what we'll get.