Healthcare & Policy News
Reporting on health care policy, insurance coverage, and federal health programs. Includes news updates and conservative commentary from The Daily Signal.
-
- Opinion
The Left’s Relentless War Against Medicare’s Private Health Plans
For the second year in a row, the Biden administration plans to reduce payments to Medicare’s private health plans. This comes as Medicare Advantage—the system of private, competing health plans—enrolls more than 33 million people, well over half of the entire Medicare population. Private health plans now dominate Medicare coverage. The Left is relentlessly…Robert Moffit -
- News
Nation’s Largest Pharmacy Chains to Begin Selling Abortion Pills
Two major pharmacy chains are preparing to place abortion pills on their shelves in select states, according to The New York Times. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in January 2023 that pharmacies would be able to start dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone to patients. Officials from Walgreens and CVS drug stores said Friday that they…Kate Anderson -
- News
EXCLUSIVE: 16 Attorneys General Order YouTube to Remove ‘Misleading’ Notice on Abortion Video
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A coalition of 16 state attorneys general is calling out YouTube for “misleading” informational posts on abortion videos, warning that the platform is putting women in danger by minimizing the risks of chemical abortions. “Your bias against pro-life and pro-woman messages is un-American; inconsistent with the liberties protected by the First…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Montana Judge Strikes Down 3 Laws Limiting Abortion
Three laws in Montana limiting abortion are unconstitutional, a state judge ruled Thursday, according to the Daily Montanan. The laws ban abortion after 20 weeks and by way of telehealth services, as well as require a 24-hour waiting period and two ultrasounds. District Court Judge Kurt Krueger sided with Planned Parenthood of Montana, which filed the lawsuit and…Kate Anderson -
- Opinion
Why New Federal Health Care Benefit Mandates Must Be Avoided
In the wake of the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling related to in vitro fertilization clinics/practices, policymakers are likely to respond by overreacting and making hasty policy decisions. Suggesting a new federal benefit mandate is one of those ill-advised ideas. A federal benefit mandate for IVF would not only raise the cost of health care…Nina Owcharenko Schaefer -
- Opinion
Are We Treating Gen Z’s Mental Health Crisis All Wrong?
A few months ago, a high school teacher casually mentioned to me that at his school, students with diagnosed anxiety weren’t called on in class. What struck me as insanity is apparently mainstream in America’s schools now. In her gripping new book “Bad Therapy,” journalist Abigail Shrier chronicles how young Americans are living a childhood…Katrina Trinko -
- News
Sen. Ron Johnson, Health Experts Allege Cover-Up of COVID-19 Vaccine Dangers
Two weeks ago, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., got an email from a recently married man who learned his 36-year-old wife couldn’t have children shortly after she got her second COVID-19 shot. “She chose career, got the baby/family bug, and now she can’t have children,” the husband said in the email, which Johnson read aloud Monday…Fred Lucas -
- News
What Federal Health Agencies Aren’t Disclosing About COVID-19 Vaccines
For more than two years, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has pushed federal health agencies for more information about adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines—and about the agencies’ efforts to censor criticism. Johnson said it was “beyond despicable,” for example, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could be “actively hiding information about vaccine safety signals…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Gender Ideologues Stack Deck on WHO Panel on Trans ‘Health’
A who’s who of transgender activists was scheduled this week to meet in Geneva at the World Health Organization to develop new guidelines on “the health of trans and gender-diverse people.” We can presume the meeting took place, even though public notice of it didn’t appear on the U.N. website listing meetings and conferences. Until…Grace Melton -
- News
NAACP Assailed by Pro-Lifers for Its Support of Abortion ‘Racism’
A pro-life group has written an open letter to the NAACP, condemning the pro-abortion stance of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. “Abortion is the ultimate racism. Almost 20 million black babies have been killed since Roe v. Wade,” the letter from the American Life League read. Roe v. Wade was the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that…Mary Elise Cosgray -
- Opinion
Hell, No: Federal Court Banishes Idaho Satanists’ Abortion Lawsuit
In June of 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade and clarified that there was no constitutional right to abortion. Within minutes of the court’s ruling, hard-line liberals across the nation were howling about restricted access to abortion and devising new and novel ways…Sarah Parshall Perry -
- News
Notre Dame’s Silence on Abortion Doula ‘Displays the Rot,’ Catholic Critic Says
The Catholic University of America and the University of Notre Dame both hosted an “abortion doula” on campus, but the two Roman Catholic schools responded to the backlash in starkly different manners. Catholic University fired the host professor within 24 hours of The Daily Signal’s report on an abortion doula’s lecture to one of the…Mary Elise Cosgray -
- News
Florida Authorities Arrest Abortion Activist for Submitting Fraudulent Petition Signatures
Florida authorities have caught multiple individuals involved in petition fraud related to a radical effort to enshrine late-term abortion into Florida’s state constitution. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced this week that inspectors arrested a “paid petition circulator” and issued an arrest warrant for a second petition circulator after they submitted 133 invalid constitutional…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
Transgender Series, Part 2: ‘Truthful Therapist’ Explains Why Parents Can’t Trust Mental Health Professionals
Editor’s note: This is the second podcast interview in a series on transgender phenomena, science, and the potential for medical malpractice lawsuits. Check out the first interview, on rapid-onset gender dysphoria. Unfortunately, parents can’t trust mental health professionals on the issue of a transgender identity, a veteran social worker warns. Pamela Garfield-Jaeger, a therapist and…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
Restoring Trust on Public Health Issues After COVID-19 Rests Squarely on Public Health Officials
At this year’s annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, panelists convened to discuss their “Global Risks Report 2024.” Among the many world problems they decided they needed to solve, they identified “misinformation and disinformation” as one of the most severe threats facing the planet in the near term. Public health officials, struggling…Molly Black -
- Opinion
Abortion Pill Reversal Saved Her Baby Girl’s Life
Katelynn Perry sat in her bathtub doing Google searches on her phone. Was there a way to save her unborn baby? She had taken the first chemical abortion pill that day and had decided she was not going to take the rest. After visiting Planned Parenthood, Perry says she “knew that taking that first pill…Virginia Allen -
- News
‘Did Not Align With Our Mission’: Catholic University Fires Professor Who Brought in ‘Abortion Doula’
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL: Catholic University confirmed to The Daily Signal that it has terminated the contract of the professor who invited a self-declared “abortion doula” to speak to students about coaching women through abortions and “pregnant men” through a “seahorse birth.” Catholic University President Peter Kilpatrick announced to students on Jan. 30 that…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
SHOCKING: Catholic University Brought in ‘Abortion Doula’ Who Coaches ‘Pregnant Men’ Through Giving Birth
A self-declared “abortion doula” spoke this week to Catholic University of America students about her experiences coaching women through delivering or aborting babies, as well as coaching “pregnant men” to deliver in what she called a “seahorse birth,” according to audio of the class lecture obtained by The Daily Signal. A Catholic University nursing student described…Mary Elise Cosgray -
- Opinion
Abortion, Sacred Truths, and Politics
Speaking Jan. 5 in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden said that the 2024 election is about whether “democracy” is “still America’s sacred cause.” But is democracy “sacred”? Is the process by which we make choices “sacred,” or is what we choose “sacred”? This is the time of year we think about the sanctity of…Star Parker -
- Opinion
It’s Lunacy to Give ‘Free’ Health Insurance to Illegal Aliens
Across the globe, millions of people are on the move, defying borders and violating laws to escape poor countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and break into rich countries. The United States is their No. 1 destination. The U.S. needs a strategy to limit the burden on Americans and protect our quality of life….Betsy McCaughey