Congress cannot sacrifice patient health and access to medical care

Our nation’s health depends on immediate action to ensure that Americans urged to stay home can do so. Households that otherwise cannot afford it must receive access to broadband internet and unlimited telephone use. The Senate will very soon consider a coronavirus stimulus package: it must include an emergency communications benefit. The Senate should act to offer low-income households a $50 monthly benefit to obtain faster speed broadband and unlimited talk and text for the duration of the coronavirus crisis. To get back on the road to economic vitality, we must ensure everyone can afford broadband at home to keep people safe even as many states work to reopen their economies. Congress is about to act on another coronavirus stimulus package. It must heed this call to save the lives of the most vulnerable among us and ensure life goes on as much as possible online.

[Eboni Winford is director of research for Cherokee Health Systems. Terri Sabella is chief executive officer of Tennessee Primary Care Association.]