Healthcare & Policy News
Reporting on health care policy, insurance coverage, and federal health programs. Includes news updates and conservative commentary from The Daily Signal.
-
- News
CDC Refuses to Answer House GOP Questions About Codes to Track Reasons Why Americans Turn Down the COVID-19 Jabs
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told The Daily Signal that it "will not be tracking" the reasons Americans give for refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine, after House Republicans demanded answers about a new classification system that tracks the reasons for vaccine refusal. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans told The Daily…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
America’s Missing Tourists: COVID-19, Crime, and Long Waits Abroad
Forty mayors from 18 states have signed a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken in which they beg the State Department to speed up issuing visas to tourists, whom they want to see back and spending in their towns from Austin, Texas, to Urbana, Illinois. All those missing visas cost the U.S. economy around…Simon Hankinson -
- News
‘The Church Cannot Remain Silent’: US Catholic Bishops Receive Instructions on When to Deny Communion to Pro-Abortion Politicians
Tens of thousands of clergy members will soon receive a copy of Cardinal Raymond Burke's firm but clear instructions to Catholic priests and bishops on when to deny someone Holy Communion. "The Church cannot remain silent and indifferent to a public offense against the Body and Blood of Christ," a book with the instructions says….Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
Can States Stop Do-it-Yourself Abortion Pills?
The U.S. Supreme Court has thrown open the once impenetrable blockade on state abortion regulations with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, and now the battle over do-it-yourself home abortions using abortion pills is heating up. Abortion pills are responsible for approximately 50% of American abortions…Sarah Parshall Perry -
- Opinion
Three-Day Education Conference Requires ‘Abortion Access’
An education organization has moved a previously scheduled conference in Texas to Colorado, saying it wants to make sure abortion services are available for attendees. The Association for Education Finance and Policy announced in an August blog post that its March conference would relocate from Fort Worth, Texas, to Denver, after claiming it had heard…Tony Kinnett -
- News
EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Demand Answers on CDC’s New Database to Monitor Why Americans Didn’t Take COVID-19 Vaccine
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—House Republicans sent a letter Tuesday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demanding answers about a new classification system that allows the CDC to record the reasons why Americans refused to take one of the COVID-19 vaccines. "Naturally, we are concerned about the federal government gathering data on Americans'…Tyler O’Neil -
- News
Axios Story on Abortion Pills Describes Ending Unborn Life as ‘Care’
An Axios reporter described abortion drugs as “care” in a news story published last week, apparently doing so with the approval of the news website’s editors. “40 million more women would lose access to abortion care if a federal court revokes the use of a key drug in medication abortions, data from the abortion rights group…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- News
Senate Advances Judge Nominations of SPLC Attorney, Abortion Lawyer, Biden Pick Who Called Voter ID ‘Grounded in White Supremacy’
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee advanced 24 of President Joe Biden's nominees for federal judgeships Thursday, in a move that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, described as an attempt to shield "the proverbial 'worst of the worst’" from "focused public scrutiny." “The Biden Administration is attempting to cram through all their most partisan, controversial nominees at…Tyler O’Neil -
- News
ANOTHER ONE: Authorities Punish Catholic Priest for Silently Praying Outside Abortion Clinic
Authorities in the United Kingdom charged a Catholic priest with violating a censorship zone when he silently prayed outside an abortion clinic while holding a sign that said "praying for free speech." Father Sean Gough, a pro-life priest stationed in Wolverhampton, England, had also parked his car in the area near the abortion clinic, which…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
OB-GYN Responds to Biden’s Touting Abortion During State of the Union
President Joe Biden took a few moments of his second State of the Union address to advocate abortion, and invited a guest who was personally affected by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June. Amanda Zurawski and her husband Josh were seated in first lady Jill Biden’s box during Biden’s speech Tuesday…Virginia Allen -
- News
FACT CHECK: Biden Touts Reopening of Schools After COVID-19, but Republicans Were a Year Ahead of Him
President Joe Biden opened his State of the Union address Tuesday with, “Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, COVID no longer controls our lives.” While Biden now celebrates victory over COVID-19 and the ending of pandemic school closures, his appointees and poor…Tony Kinnett -
- Opinion
FDA Lacks Authority to Approve Abortion Pills, Claims First-of-Its-Kind Lawsuit. The Left Is Apoplectic.
Liberals are predictably apoplectic about a recent case that makes a first-of-its-kind claim: that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration never had the authority to approve the chemical abortion pill mifepristone when it did so in 2000. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs—a coalition of national medical associations and doctors experienced in caring for pregnant and…Sarah Parshall Perry -
- Opinion
National COVID-19 Emergency Will Soon End. States Need to Start Rolling Back Biden’s Medicaid, Food Stamp Expansions.
The official end of the COVID-19 emergency is near. That’s good news. It’s now up to the states to finish the job. The House of Representatives voted Feb. 1 on a joint resolution ending the national COVID-19 emergency and a bill to terminate the Department of Health and Human Services’ public health emergency declaration. At the…Nina Owcharenko Schaefer -
- Opinion
Lessons From COVID-19: How Governments Abuse Public Health Crises to Gain and Maintain Power
Many COVID-19 restrictions and mandates have been rolled back, but the infrastructure remains in place, “ready and waiting for the next declared public health crisis,” Dr. Aaron Kheriaty says. Kheriaty, a psychiatrist who directs the Bioethics and American Democracy program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, chose to speak out against the…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
Pfizer Execs Must Come Clean on COVID-19 Viral ‘Mutation’ Experiments to Hill Committees
Dr. Jordon Trishton Walker, a director of research and development for the Pfizer Corp., recently became an overnight internet sensation. The reason: In a set of rambling remarks to an undercover Project Veritas reporter, Walker outlined how the company could mutate viruses in a lab and do so to create new vaccines, while speculating on…Robert Moffit -
- News
EXCLUSIVE: America First Legal Demands Answers From CDC on ‘Abhorrent’ Transgender Activism in Schools
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—America First Legal has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demanding records related to the CDC's "self-assessment tool" urging teachers, administrators, school health staff, and others to advocate LGBT causes in school. "It’s abhorrent that federal tax dollars are going to pay…Tyler O’Neil -
- News
What Biden Said When Asked About Catholic Bishops and Abortion
President Joe Biden appeared to deny that the Catholic Church is calling for the end of taxpayer-funded abortion in an exchange Monday. After Biden exited Marine One, EWTN correspondent Owen Jensen brought up the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statements on abortion. “Catholic bishops are demanding that federal tax dollars not fund abortions,” Jensen said to…Michael Ippolito -
- Opinion
The Left Abuses State Constitutions for More Than Protecting Abortion Rights
Abortion advocates are setting their sights on the states after the Supreme Court last year declared that the U.S. Constitution “does not confer a right to abortion.” They are not only attacking pro-life laws under state constitutions, but they are also trying to change those charters to explicitly protect abortion. Successful campaigns in Michigan, California,…Thomas Jipping -
- Opinion
House Votes Expose Democrats as Pro-Violence, Abortion-Loving, Infant-Hating Extremists
President Joseph Robinette Biden last fall accused Republicans of “doubling down on an extreme position” on abortion. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., shrieked: “With Roe now out of their way, extreme MAGA Republicans are gleefully charging ahead with their deadly crusade to punish and control women’s health decisions.” Well, look who’s extreme now. Pelosi’s successor,…Deroy Murdock -
- Opinion
If a Pro-Abortion Activist Went to the March for Life
The Daily Signal went to the 50th March for Life in Washington, D.C. and asked pro-life advocates the questions pro-abortion activists would like to ask. We asked, why do you want to control women’s bodies, because Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has said that pro-life lawmakers are really advocating for “controlling women’s bodies.” And why do…Virginia Allen