One policy expert breaks down how the Biden-Harris health care plan would affect

(KWWL) – Throughout Decision 2020, one of President-Elect Biden’s biggest platforms has been healthcare.

With the debate over the Affordable Care Act and other healthcare issues, it can be hard to keep up. “KWWL” spoke with a policy expert, Allen Zagoren, to understand how the Biden-Harris plan would affect Iowa.

Zagoren explained one of the main adjustments the Biden-Harris plan is making sure more citizens have coverage.

“If you have a life-threatening illness and you go to the ER, they need to take care of you,” Zagoren said, “and if you don’t have insurance or the financial ability to pay… that raises the prices on the premiums for everybody else… to cover that loss the hospitals are incurring.”

With Iowa ranking sixth in the nation for insured citizens, Zagoren knows there’s the idea of not wanting something new. However, he stressed some changes can greatly impact Iowa’s rural areas.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the rural hospitals in Iowa,” Zagoren said, “their financial stability actually hinges on the ability of the population to pay the bill, and if the population can’t pay the bill the rural hospital doesn’t stay open.”

Zagoren also added the plan will face many challenges, the biggest one to expect will be their response to the pandemic.

“Without a question when January 21st, the biggest healthcare challenge the administration faces is not financing Medicaid,” Zagoren said, “it’s going to be what do you want to do about the pandemic.”

Overall, Zagoren does see the Biden-Harris plan make some improvements in Iowa in terms of reducing the uninsured population and keeping all institutions viable, including mental health care.

However, Zagoren admits this is what he has found through his own studies, and encourages folks to make their own opinions by doing their own research.