Gerald Friedman, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Appendix: estimating the cost of coverage for the newly unemployed The number of first-time unemployment claims for the three weeks ending April 17, 2020 is 26.5 million from the Department of Labor.[6] Two estimates are used for the share of first-time unemployment claims. The Economic Policy Institute has estimated that 40% of those losing jobs had employment-related health insurance.[7] This

Rising premiums and declining coverage have led growing numbers of Americans to consider a system of national health insurance, a system of Medicare for All. A majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives, 15 senators, and large majorities of Democratic presidential primary voters have endorsed Medicare for All. Recently, we endorsed Medicare for all in an open letter that concluded that “a program of Medicare for All (M4A) could be considerably less expensive than