As the United States’s coronavirus death toll continues to climb, even surpassing China’s reported fatalities, many Americans are bewildered by the inability of the world’s wealthiest nation to effectively counteract the pandemic. Many have attributed the disaster to inept leadership, a well founded assertion, but one that ignores the structural systems that have exacerbated the virus’s social and economic destruction. While the Trump Administration's botched response to the pandemic is certainly a contributing factor, it is not the lone cause of America's horrifying place as the global-leader in coronavirus fatalities.

Even if the executive branch had handled the crisis perfectly, America's healthcare system, where health insurance is contingent on employment, would still have trapped the nation in the vicious cycle it is experiencing today.

A Uniquely American Cycle

At the risk of stating the obvious, the cycle begins with the direct effect of a pandemic: people getting sick. As the coronavirus is incredibly contagious, so many get sick that the cycle quickly progresses to its second stage: an economic slowdown. The economy's contraction is inevitable: either businesses close immediately due to government-mandated social distancing, or later on because consumers are too scared to shop. Regardless of the cause, the effect is the same.

Following the unavoidable economic faltering, the cycle reaches its third stage: workers will lose their jobs and their employer-provided health insurance along with it. Whether the workers were let go, or the business closed altogether, the result is the same — gone are their income and the "work benefit" of health insurance that accompanied it. Over 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment in the week of March 16th, the biggest week-to-week jump in American history. An unfortunate certainty is that a lot of these newly uninsured Americans will contract the coronavirus.

This is where we see this cycle as uniquely American: if a nation provides healthcare as a public good alongside police and education, citizens would simply seek medical treatment and be properly quarantined. But, because these 3.3 million Americans just lost their ability to pay for medical treatment, in America, the cycle continues into its fourth stage.

If they get sick, newly-unemployed Americans will avoid medical facilities as if they housed an even deadlier pathogen. Uncertain how they'll even pay for rent or groceries, the last thing a newly unemployed American can afford is the notorious hospital bills that can accrue from even walking into an ER for an evaluation.

Even though no vaccine exists for COVID-19, ensuring sick individuals are in contact with a healthcare provider is crucial to stopping the virus's spread. Life-threatening cases will be admitted to the hospital, removing them from the general population. If the individual doesn't need to be admitted, medical professionals can provide them instructions on how to self-quarantine at home: a seemingly minor action with a direly-needed effect.

Intra-family transmission greatly contributed to the virus's spread. China was able to hamper it, but only through draconian family separation methods that Americans should never accept. Instead, a five-minute conversation with an educated professional provides the instructions on how to properly self-quarantine, drastically decreasing the likelihood of the virus passing through an entire family.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned scenario isn't a reality. Due to an inability to pay, sick individuals aren't interacting with the healthcare system, rendering both of these scenarios irrelevant. Without proper quarantining procedures, the cycle returns to its first stage as it continues to sicken even more of the American population.

With each ensuing spin, the results grow exponentially worse. The economic casualties of the first spin were largely limited to the hospitality industry, but the effects are sure to ripple. The troubles retail stores and mom-and-pop shops are experiencing today will reach chain restaurants and big-box suppliers tomorrow. As the bigger and bigger dominos that are America's largest employers begin to fall, more and more employees will be laid off, accelerating the cycle and escalating the crisis.

A universal health care system would bring this spiral to a standstill. Not only does the U.S. not have such a system, the one it does have is exacerbating the virus's spread. While it is too late for those who have succumbed to the virus, Medicare-For-All could be quickly implemented to serve as a stick in the cycle's spokes.

A Spoke in the Wheel

The United States has two public programs that are designed to provide health coverage to those who have lost their jobs, but they are proving to be entirely inadequate. Medicaid, which is health insurance for low-income Americans, can take up to 90 days to kick in . A coronavirus carrier can pass the virus to an exponential amount of Americans in half that time.

COBRA, which allows laid-off Americans to sustain the health coverage they received from their previous employer, only applies if the employer had over fifty employees, and still costs over $650 a month. Even if they are eligible, it is highly unlikely a newly-unemployed American will be able to afford the monthly costs. It is wishful thinking to believe either COBRA or Medicaid is sufficient.

Fortunately, America can break its cycle by simply expanding an already existing program — Medicare. If Congress were to expand Medicare to cover all citizens (not just retirees and the disabled), no longer would those who lose their jobs be scared to seek medical treatment, effectively severing the cycle's fourth stage.

Once they are assured reporting their symptoms to a doctor won't result in crushing medical debt, Americans will have no reason not to seek medical advice if they suspect they are a carrier. Upon the discretion of well-trained ER doctors and nurses, those suspected of carrying the coronavirus will be quarantined in a hospital or at home, reducing the spread of infection. To again state the obvious, a lower rate of infection reduces the number of cases, allowing for a sooner return to normalcy and lessening the economic damage.

Big Problems Require Big Solutions

Even during normality, Americans are intimidated by sweeping institutional reforms, so a solution as bold as Medicare-For-All will be met with increased skepticism during this period of uncertainty. While the burning desire to just "return things to the way they were" is understandable, stopgaps and half measures — such as a meager $1200 check — are incapable of getting us there.

A problem can only be solved by a proportionate solution. Social Security, one of America's highest-polling social programs , was instituted in the middle of the Great Depression to guarantee Americans financial security. In 1948, a war-torn United Kingdom implemented the National Health Service to treat its citizens from the many ailments resulting from World War II. Both of these programs, which are immensely popular and highly effective, were built from scratch amidst more dire conditions than we face now.

Medicare-For-All has always been besmirched as being "too radical;" a charge that only rings true if one ignores the size of the problem it would solve. America is in a state of despair. A global pandemic has found its way to her shores, killing thousands of citizens and forcing an economic nosedive. Trapped in a vicious cycle, things are getting worse, and worse and worse.

The current solution — a single cash payout and haphazardly converting Detroit motor plants to produce ventilators — is an anthill compared to the Everest of the COVID-19 pandemic. When faced with a gargantuan problem, the only "radical" solutions are the ones that fail to match the significance of the crisis.