COVID-19 & US healthcare system

[robkelk]

...
I don't know what that was supposed to accomplish, actually. It made sense in 2008 - dropping the interest rate got people making big-ticket purchases again. This time around, no amount of cheaper (or free) money is going to get somebody to sit in an aircraft beside someone who might be contagious.

CBC Analysis: Interest rate cut for COVID-19 is like surgery with a club

tl;dr: See my quote above.

Canadian monetary policy specialist Louis-Philippe Rochon is one of those economists who worries that rate cuts now are not an effective solution to the economic problems created by the global outbreak of COVID-19.

Rochon said he knows he's part of the economic problem as he considers whether, as a diabetic, he can afford to travel to Rome next month where he is supposed to be visiting professor.

"It's a tough decision to make," he said.

But he has trouble seeing how lower interest rates will fill empty planes, replace parts cut off by factory shutdowns or convince people to go out to restaurants or theatres and feel comfortable taking public transit. Cheap money will not stop people from getting sick.
"I just don't know how reducing interest rates 50 basis points will help with the coronavirus crisis," said Rochon who believes the real solution is specific and targeted government spending. "Reducing interest rates will have no impact. No impact!"