Coronavirus Pandemic and Congressional Action: Representative Rosa DeLauro on Protecting Families and Businesses Through Crisis

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

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Female : Welcome to Conversations on Health Care with Mark Masselli and
Margaret Flinter, a show where we speak to the top thought leaders
in health innovation, health policy, care delivery, and the great minds
who are shaping the hea lth care of the future.

This week Mark and Margaret speak with U.S. Congresswoman Rosa
rd
DeLauro 3 District Representative from Connecticut. She talks about
bills just passed in Congress that will help Americans grapple with the
health and economic effects of the ongoing c oronavirus pandemic, as
well as protections for coverage of COV ID - 19 testing and the need for
s ick leave for affected workers.

Lori Robertson also checks in, the Managing Editor of F act C heck.org
looks at misstatements spoken about health policy in the pu blic
domain, separating the fake from the facts . We end with a bright idea
that's improving health and well - being in everyday lives. If you have
comments, please email us at [email protected] or find us on
Facebook , Twitter , or wherever you listen to podcast. You can also
hear us by asking Alexa to play the program Conversations on Health
Care . Now stay tuned for our interview with Congresswoman Rosa
DeLauro here on Conversations on Health Care.

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Mark Massell i: We're speaking today with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro,
rd
Connecticut's 3 Congressional District Representative since 1991.
Congresswoman DeLauro is Chair of the House, Labor, Health and
Human Services Education and Related Agencies Appropriations
Subcomm ittee.

Margaret Flinter: Congresswoman DeLauro is a founding member of the Progressive
Congressional Caucus. She's been an ardent supporter of advancing
universal health care throughout her career and long a champion of
legislation that supports the health of women and children. She won
the 2009 Health Policy award from the National Center for Health
Research . Representative DeLauro , welcome back to Conversations on
Health Care.

Rosa DeLauro: Thank you so much, and it's wonderful to be with the two of you a nd
the work that is done at the health center is really know no bounds
and your commitment knows no bounds to the people that you serve
every single day. We know that our community health centers serve
23 million people, and oftentimes the primary care fac ilities suffer for
patients . W e're there with you 100% , promise you we're going to
provide some more money for you in the Third Appropriations
Supplemental Bill .

Mark Masselli: You know, we find ourselves in unprecedented times and the

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

c oronavirus pandemic has taken hold on our shores , now really
endangering the lives of so many causing these huge disruptions
around the globe as well as here at home. The House just passed
Families First in the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response
Supplemental Appropriation s Act aimed at providing both health and
economic protections for individuals and businesses during the
ongoing crisis. I wonder if you could share with our listeners a broader
understanding of exactly what these bills will do.

Rosa DeLauro: Sure, let me f irst say to you Mark and Margaret, we now have passed
two bills. They are appropriations bills. What does that mean? These
are the resources that the federal government is trying to provide to
the i ndividuals, to the institutions, that are really on the fr ontlines of
this crisis. The first bill that we passed, which was about two weeks
ago, was $8.3 billion. What did it address? It addressed mostly health
needs, money for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention so
that we could get money to state and local governments about
helping to have a public health infrastructure that could handle all of
these efforts , money for the personnel equipment and masks for
professionals and first responders to be able to be safe , m oney for the
NIH, for vaccines, for re search, etc. M ainly it focused on t he health
side of the equation.

The second bill, which was just passed , it’s a bill that focused, if you
will, on the economic issues that people are facing. It is about
unemployment insurance. It is about paid sick days, paid family leave.
It is about food security, making sure that families have enough food
at this time if they've lost their job or their kids are out of school. It
also said that even if you're uninsured , the test for the c oronavirus
would be made free , s o again, focus ing on the economic issues for
kids and for families. It also included additional funds for the Medicaid
program of which Connecticut will have an additional $440 million
coming to it.

Now, what we are in the process of doing is putting toget her a t hird
appropriations bill for resources. That is in the making now, Margaret
and Mark, and I've been on the phone all day listening to various
groups from the Red Cross to the American Federation of Teachers
from all the other education pieces . I hav e talked to the food security
people. W e're going to try to deal with the gaps that we were now
faced with both health and both economic.

Margaret Flin ter: Wow , Congresswoman DeLauro, you're amazing in what you
managed to accomplish and we a re so appreciat ive. We can't help but
remember that the last time you were on th e show, you spoke about
the need to create a public health emergency fund pretty prescient.
Now here we are in the midst of a pandemic requiring exactly this sort
of funding , so no surprise d you were ahead of the curve in thinking

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

about this threat to public health in America.

As you craft this response and we talk about all the things that have
mattered to you for so long, robust support for family leave, paid sick
leave, economic assistance for business and health care organizations .
I have a feeling you're not sleeping at night. What are you thinking
about the ability of communities to grab on to these resources and
run with it? Are you hearing from the groups you're talking to that
they're prepared to spring into action when they get these resources?

Rosa DeLauro: I will tell you , I have had over the last several days , what I decided to
rd
do was to have conference calls with all of -- and this is in the 3
congressional district in my communi ties, conversations with
professionals on the phone to help me answer the questions. I don't
know all the answers , I'll be very honest with you. W hat we've done is
to do meetings with c hiefs of p olice by phone, with f ire c hiefs , with
the superintendents of schools, with the heads of the colleges, heads
of the hospitals, with the business community. You know I did a tele
town hall meeting the other night, it ’s the second one that I have
done. Today I met with the -- by phone, a food security groups. They
are ready, they are willing, they are able, and they are ready to go.
What do they need? They need the tools and they need the
resources.

Obviously resources being first, but also trying to look at how you look
at some of the regulations like on the whole foo d security area , h ow
we make sure that we can ease the bureaucracy in order to be able to
get food out to various sites s o that school kids like we do in the
summer program can go to that site and they'll be able to get food. In
some places, it may be that whether it says that the child has to be
present, if we can have something that doesn't make it so that you
have to do it or less willing to do it. One of the things I have to be
honest with you that I hear, and I don't have a real answer yet is the --
a personal protective equipment. Honestly, people are -- police, fire
hospitals, health care workers, even like the soup kitchens, if they've
got people as volunteers and they're serving food on the sidewalk
they need to have protective masks. They need all o f those things ,
t here is a shortage.

I've been in touch with the appropriate federal agency. I was with
them, I talked to them last night, and they are struggling to fill the
national security stockpile. We're trying to do whatever we can in this
direction . B ut I will tell you again, to go back to your question
Margaret, our agencies , our institutions are ready to do their job and
they have stepped up beyond stepping up.

Mark Masselli: Congresswoman DeLauro, I want to pull the thread on that thought of
we n eed to do more around providing the tools and helping on the
regulatory relief. With all the swiftly moving disaster s happening

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

simultaneously , some health protocols and regulations must adapt to
meet increased demand o f the health system. For instance, we saw
the Department of Health and Human Services is relaxing restrictions
on telehealth services for the nation's 44 m illion Medicare
beneficiaries across the country in various states . Our state in
Connecticut and across the country , many are expanding te lehealth
coverage for Medicaid recipients as well. Hopefully , this will ex tend
even further. Just share a little more like you did with f ood security on
the health side, how these latest developments supporting the
ex tension of telehealth are so essential in both during the crisis and in
terms of making our health care system more responsive and
accessible to the population?

Rosa DeLauro: Now, that's very good point because, and I am proud to say that in
that $8.3 billion which we first did, this is two wee ks ago , it included
provisions to allow seniors to access telemedicine services for
c oronavirus treatment. Governor Lamont took a bold step on behalf
of vulnerable residents. Connecticut as I understand it has just
expanded telehealth coverage for Medicaid recipients as well. What I
have found is that , look, what I found from the school system and in
our conversations is how do we deal with the access? How do we
make sure that we are dealing with the access for kids, for seniors, for
all of these, for healt h care professionals? What we have to do is to
look at what is it going to require?

I also heard this from the colleges, because their kids are online now.
Well , how is it that we are transferring both education needs and
health needs to deal with the tele health efforts or the schooling by
virtue of telecommunications here . T hese are new areas, probably
shouldn't be more chartered now than uncharted . B ut let's take
advantage of this moment and put some things in place that will allow
us when we get past thi s pandemic that we have built into a system
the kinds of infrastructure that allows us to deal with whatever else
comes up. That's true of our public health system in our state and all
over , and you are our public health system. In that area you know
we're trying to go from four years to five years in terms of your
extension , increase th e funding for community centers, and allow you
to be able to better do the jobs tha t you do.

Margaret Flinter: Well Congresswoman we have longer conversations to have with y ou
about the way the relaxation of the rules ar ound telehealth and the
changes have allowed us to really rise --- .

Rosa DeLauro: I would like to hear about it.

Margaret Flinter: Yup, to rise to the occasion on this .

Rosa DeLauro: Do y ou have ides and thoug hts ? T hat is what I need.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

Margaret Flinter: Absolutely

Rosa DeLauro: I ’ m not an expert in this area but I'm happy to get to those who know
what they're doing.

Margaret Flinter: Perfect , it ’s working and we want to talk to you about it . Part of that is
we t ake very solemnly our responsibility to care for our own patients
throughout this crisis but to also manage in the community . People
can be managed in the community without sending them on to the
hospital to the emergency room to try and keep people from
p rogressing on because we know and we k now from reading the
statistics , and w e saw some projections even for our own state, that
one of the biggest concerns beyond the personal protective
equipment even which is a huge concern, hospital beds and intensivist
beds, ICU beds, and ventilators . We were noting the work of one of
our good colleagues out in the state of Washington just standing up a
200 bed hospital in a soccer field in a matter of a couple of days t o try
and rise to the occasion.

From your perch in the federal government, you probably have a
much better sense than we do about where we really stand as a
country in the ability to rise to that level of the sickest people who are
likely to be our oldest patients but also younger patients as we're
seeing around the country. What are your concerns or assessment
about our readiness for care at that acute level?

Rosa DeLauro: I have concerns. I won't sit here , I promised people when I spoke to
them, that I'm not an alarmist and n or do I want to scare people, but I
think that this is one of the areas where we have serious issues. We
have to be able to provide the increased beds, acute beds for acute
care patients. I think at this m oment that we are not there yet and it ’s
a direction we need to go . I mean, for instance, I got a call from a
hospice here in the Branford area where they have 35 beds. Now
what they can't do is to take people with c oronavirus , but what they
can do is to help ease the burden.

What we need to do is, look , United States has an en ormous capacity
to put together, actually , when we go to war we build roads, we build
hospitals, we build bridges, we do all the infrastructure that we need
to support our t roops in the field. This is our troops, the first
responders, the health professionals are our troops in the field, our
hospitals . W hat we need to do is to mirror that k ind of production at
this time. I know our h ospitals want one to see it and we're doing
everything that they can to be able to take care of people. But they
are feeling the shor tage of both bed space and equipment.

Margaret Flinter: Yeah.

Mark Masselli: We're speaking today with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro ,

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

rd
Connecticut's 3 Congressional District Representative. She C hairs the
House Labor , H ealth and H uman S ervices, E ducation and R elated
A gencies Appropriations Subcommittee. Congresswoman DeLa uro,
you were mentionin g that you've been holding tele town halls really
to address concerns and frankly some of the misconceptions about
this rapidly evolving crisis.

We were fortunate to ha ve, about a month ago, Dr. Fauci who joined
us from NIH . H e was also talking about some things that have come to
pas t f or instance, even back then he was urging the adoption of social
distancing. But it's only taken on hold very recently with a number of
s tates. We saw California , today New York , and just a few minutes ago
Governor Lamont in Connecticut put forward his stay safe stay at
home initiative. We're seei ng a lot of mixed messaging now going on
across the country, what must be done to improve vital public health
messaging really to , as you know, you're so close to the population.
You're really an anxious public.

Rosa DeLauro: It's a very, very anxious public . I've listened to people on to te le town
halls where thousands of people are listening and p articipating or
even just leaving my office last night and a woman just said, I don't
know what to do. I don't have any sick days. I don't -- I'm frightened ,
should I get a te st ? S hould I not get a test ? F irst, let me just say,
Anthony Fauci is the gold st an dard as I think you agree.

Margaret Flinter: Absolutely.

Mark Masselli: Yeah absolutely.

Rosa DeLauro: Looking at infectious diseases, and I tried to take my lead from him
and what we do in putting together our appropriations bills . B ut, in
some places , and I'll be honest, I was shocked to see on the beaches
in Florida quite young people are there spring vacation, etc, I think all
those years ago [overlap] vacation . B ut we ought to just say no, I
mean, honest to God, we should shut them down because the y oung
people seem to feel that they are impervious to all of it, and it is not
true. It is just not true. In some instances, you're looking at stay safe,
stay at home, and that has got to penetrate the psyche of the country
which is not used to this . Americ ans are used to b eing out on the
streets free, do what you want it etc. For the moment, we can't do
that, and I think that both state and federal government have to be
present in terms of making sure that the public is safe and have to
take the precautions that we need to do that at this juncture.

Margaret Flinter: Congresswoman, we've been talking a lot about what the federal
government can and should be doing for the American people and
what the state government should be doing. This is government's
momen t perhaps. But we also are always reminded of John F.
Kennedy's a sk not what you can -- what your country can do for you

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

but what you can do for your country . C ertainly you just highlighted
the most important thing is those who are not essential frontline
emergency responders, health care providers and like should stay
home. They should stay home, take care of their family , take care of
their immediate contacts, but w hat else? What would you be urging
Americans to do right now as we have to collectively com e togeth er
to get through this crisis . D o you message to the American people
about how they can help , what they can do?

Rosa DeLauro: Yeah, well, I think they are , Margaret , I think the overwhelming
instinct of Americans is say, h ow can I help in this cris is? T hey are they
are doing that. Some are on a one - to - one basis in their own
neighborhood. Maybe they're dropping off at a porc h food for
someone or saying c an I go out to the grocery store for you? Can I go
to the pharmacy to get your medication? What is it that I can do to be
helpful? Can I be a volunteer to drive with meals on wheels ?
O bviously those people have to be vetted, and get all the health and
safety precaution. But people are really wanting to help to make a
difference , and that is wherein our strength lies, and where our
strengths to get by this pandemic, because we will , w e will . T here's no
question in my mind, and it's tough going through now , a nd it's very,
very stressful. But it's like all hands on deck.

W hile we are -- and you know you ta lked about state, the federal
government, we have the obligation to provide the money so that we
have enough pharmaceuticals that we -- looking at the therapeutics ,
that we are looking at equipment, that we make sure that people kept
the kind of income ass istance that they need if they're lost their job
a nd they're out of work. W hat we can do in that regard, in the short
term , their kids are out of school, but let's really try to look to our
own community, our own neighborhood and say, h ow can I be of help
to that person next door who may be less fortunate tha n I am, and
provide them with some help. T hat's happening. I think it's happening
all over our state and all over this country.

Mark Masselli: Well, that's an inspiring message. I think we're all inspir ed by all the
people who are doing it. I know, on behalf of our organization, the
Community Health Center, but also the other two grade health
centers you h ave in your district Fair Haven Health Center and Hill
Health Center. We're appreciative of the work that you do, not only in
the district, but how you ’ve really -- you have such an influence across
the country focused in on special populations. The work that you do,
the dedication that you provide is tremendous and inspiring and
thanks on behalf of all those special populations that you're so
focused in on committed .

Rosa DeLauro: Thank you very, very much and, we are partnership.

Margaret Flinter: Absolutely.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

Rosa DeLauro: W e do get to where we want to go a nd to meet the challenges and
that has to be do ne together . J ust a message to the public , b e safe.
Listen to what these health professionals, the scientists are telling
you , stay at home, wash your hands over and over and over again.
Take good care of yourselves and your family . T hose of us who where
w e are, it is our moral responsibility to get to you what you need and
to get to those professionals who are in your service. T his is a trying
time, but it's one as I said earlier, we'll get through it , we will.

Margaret Flinter: Good. Well, we'll get thro ugh it will be our mantra. We've been
rd
speaking t oday with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro Connecticut's 3
Congressional District Representative about the coronavirus
pandemic. You can learn more about the particulars of the important
legislative initiat ives w e've been discussing but going to her website
delau r o .house.gov and get regular updates by going to her Twitter
page @ Rosa DeLauro. Congresswoman DeLauro t hank you for your
lifelong dedication to public service for your commitment to
improving the health an d well - being of all Americans and , of course,
for taking the time to join us on Conversations on Health Care today.

Rosa DeLauro: Thank you , looking forward to the day when I can hug you guys.

Mark Masselli: We are too.

Margaret Flinter: Or at least shake hands.

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Mark Masselli: At Conversations on Health Care, we want our audience to be truly in
the know when it comes to the facts about health care reform and
policy. Lori Robertson is an award winning journalist and Managing
Editor of FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate
for voters that aim to reduce the level of deception in US politics. Lori,
what have you got for us this week?

Lori Robertson: President Donald Trump touted two drugs including one currently on
the market for othe r uses that he said show “really good promise as
therapies to COVID - 19” the disease caused by the new c oronavirus .
B ut he left the misleading impression that the drugs were approved to
treat the c oronavirus and available for “immediate delivery . ” In fact,
neither of the drugs the P resident highlighted at a press conference
th
on March 19 have been approved by the Food and Drug
Administration for use as therapy for COVID - 19 t hough the FDA is
moving forward rapidly with clinical trials . T he FDA is “looking at
drugs that are already approved for other indications” and that
doctors can currently prescribed off label.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said the FDA plans to study the
results of those drugs and hopes that they can be offered as bridge
therapies as t hey await completion of clinical trials for a vaccine which

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

may take a year. “ W e need to make sure that these sea of new
treatments will get the right drug to the right patient at the right
dosage at the right time . ” Hahn said speaking just after Trump . “ A s an
example, we may have the right drug, but it may not be in the
appropriate dosage form right now, and that may do more harm than
good . ”

Trump first mentioned Chloroquine an old drug used to prevent and
treat malaria as well as to treat rheumatoid arthr itis and lupus. Trump
said it has shown “very, very encouraging early results for use in
people who have contracted the novel coronavirus . ” A n article
published in February in N ature found that the drug limited infection
of the virus in cells grown in the lab and the authors recommended it
be assessed in human patients. It is currently being tested in clinical
trials in China, where it is included in government guidelines for
treating coronavirus patients. Hahn said , C hloroquine is approved for
the treatmen t of malaria and arthritis . T he FDA is considering an
expanded use trial of patients in the US, “to actually see if that
benefits patients . ” Hahn declined to speculate on how long it might
take before C hloroquine might be approved for use for COVID - 19.

As for the other drug, R emdesivir, Trump misleadingly said “that drug
also has been approved or very close to approved in that case by the
FDA . ” That drug has only been approved for a clinical trial not for
consumer use. Dr. Anthony Fauci Director of the Nati onal Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases has said that if all goes right, the drug
could be ready for mass production by June. T hat's my fact check for
this week. I'm Lori Robertson, Managing Editor of F act C heck.org.

Margaret Flinter: FactCheck.or g is committed to factual accuracy from the country's
major political players and is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy
Center at the University of Pennsylvania. If you have a fact that you'd
like checked, email us at www.chcradio.com. W e'll have
FactCheck.org's Lori Robertson check it out for you here on
Conversations on Health Care.

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Mark Masselli : Each week Conversations highlights a bright idea about how to make
wellness a part of our communities an d everyday lives. For all the
people in the world w ithout l imbs, acquiring prosthetics can be costly
and out of reach. It's especially challenging to make prosthetics for
children since they are in constant state of growth. Rochester
Institute of Technolog y S cientist Dr. Jon Schull stumbled upon a clever
and affordable solution provided online open source templates to
anyone anywhere in the world who has access to a 3D printer and
provide prosthetic hands for next t o nothing.

Dr. Jon Schull: I've made this Goog le Maps mash up. If you have a 3D printer and

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

you'd like to help put yourself on this map , and if you know someone
who needs a hand, put yourself on this map. By getting something like
this get going.

Mark Masselli : H e found ed the e - NABLE N etwork, whic h has mas t thousands of
volunteer makers in upwards of 40 countries around the world
providing cheap but functional pr osthetics for children in need.

Dr. Jon Schull: I think we're currently pushing 5800 identifie d members in our Google
Plus community . W e h ave followings in the thousands more . W e
know that we've delivered about 800 hands devices and we suspect
that comparable number have been downloaded by people we can't
track because we put all of our design on the internet.

Mark Masselli: The movement has grown so rapidly, the simple limb designs have
become more sophisticated as recipients of the prosthetic devices
provide feedback for designers to make more efficient devices.

Dr. Jon Schull: We're still working on opposable thumbs, we're still working on
individual finger movements, these things grip or un grip, that's all
they do. T hey're much less functional than our biological hand and
they're also less functional than a fancy myoelectric hands , b ut for
kids it's huge because those expensive devices are typically out of
reach for children who would outgrow them , s o it doesn't make sense
for them to get a $5,000 or $10,000 hand. O ur hands don't even
pretend to look like regular hands. They look like superhero Iron Man
hands , a nd for that very reason they' re very popular with kids.

Mark Masselli: e - NABLE a global collaborative network of open source des igns linking
to makers with 3D printers to provide low cost prosthetic limbs to
children and adults around the world who might otherwise not be
able to affor d them. Now that's a bright idea.

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Mark Masselli: You've been listening to Conversations on Health Care. I'm Mark
Masselli.

Margaret Flinter: And I'm Margaret Flinter.

Mark Masselli: Peace and Health.

Female : Conversations on Health Care is recorded at WESU at Wesleyan
University, streaming live at www.chcradio.com , iTunes, or wherever
you listen to podcast. If you have comments, please email us at
www.chcradio@chc1 .com , or find us on Facebook or Twitter. We love
hearing from you. This show is brought to you by the Community
Health Center.

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