What lasting impact will COVID-19 have on the U.S. healthcare industry?

Efforts to reduce expenses in clinics and small hospitals will be taken

Question: What lasting impact will COVID-19 have on the U.S. healthcare industry?
Position‹2 of 3›: Many hospitals and clinics might face moderate to severe financial hardships
Argument‹2 of 2: Efforts to reduce expenses in clinics and small hospitals will be taken

As the COVID-19 pandemic makes funds and resources scarce in the United States, hospitals and clinics must make restrictive efforts to conserve resources and continue running.

The argument

As hospitals struggle financially and have difficulty acquiring the medical resources they need due to COVID-19, they are forced to ration resources and make budget and equipment cuts. Efforts to conserve money and equipment are widespread and varied, but almost every healthcare clinic has been forced to do so during the pandemic. A major effort to cut back and save resources is the restriction of testing, Many states, including California and New York, have issued mandates that only people showing very obvious and intense symptoms should be tested. This is to conserve tests for those in extreme need due to a large shortage of tests. However, restricted testing means many cases go unnoticed and lead to more spreading of the virus. Healthcare professionals are put in a tough position and forced to conserve. Other efforts to reduce expenses and save resources have worked as creative solutions, but unfortunately, most have negative consequences for patient or healthcare worker safety. Most healthcare workers are no longer wearing masks when treating any patients that don't have a bad case of COVID-19, leading to exposure between patients and healthcare workers, as well as between healthcare workers. Retired doctors are being encouraged to come out and work, and medical students are being encouraged to graduate early to enter the workforce. Many specialists from unrelated disciplines, such as dermatologists or ophthalmologists, are staffing emergency rooms and treating patients far outside their expertise. All of these measures to reduce expenses are necessary, but not ideal for patient or doctor safety in the long run.

Premises

[P1]COVID-19 has caused hospitals and clinics to face shortages of money and medical resources, forcing them to ration supplies and cut expenses. [P2] These cost-cutting measures—restricted testing, reduced mask use, and reliance on retired or out-of-specialty staff—are widespread across nearly every healthcare clinic. [P3] Such measures compromise patient and healthcare worker safety, indicating that clinics and small hospitals are under serious financial strain. [C] Therefore, efforts to reduce expenses in clinics and small hospitals reflect the moderate to severe financial hardships they face due to COVID-19.

Counter-arguments

These measures are only a temporary occurrence for in the thick of the pandemic, and will soon go away. As the US's cases fall, resources will be less thinly spread and these efforts can be withdrawn. As more companies begin manufacturing equipment and masks they will become more readily available, and when other countries begin not needing them as the pandemic subsides, the US can import them. Temporary restrictive efforts to save resources and money will cease once the pandemic slows down.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] These measures are only temporary.