Healthcare & Policy News
Reporting on health care policy, insurance coverage, and federal health programs. Includes news updates and conservative commentary from The Daily Signal.
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- News
Grappling With DC Vaccine Mandate, Capitol Hill Restaurant Owner Pleads for Decency
Vaccine mandate culture wars rage on, and Noe Landini and his staff are caught in the middle. Torn between desires to respect all customers, to comply with Washington, D.C.’s vaccine mandate, and to keep his restaurants afloat, he pleads for patience and the understanding that “mandates are not as simple as they seem.” “We know…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
COVID-19’s Impact of Expressive Individualism
Philosopher Robert Bellah once posited that modern Western human beings identify themselves in a peculiar way: as emotional cores, surrounded by baser material. According to Bellah, we are expressive individualists—meaning that “each person has a unique core of feeling and intuition that should unfold or be expressed if individuality is to be realized.” This mode…Ben Shapiro -
- Opinion
COVID-19 Policies Are Hurting Kids More Than Virus Itself
COVID-19 itself has not been killing kids in droves. According to figures cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics, among the 46 states that reported, “children were 0.00-0.26 percent of all COVID-19 deaths, and four states reported zero child deaths.” But you’d never know that from the policies many states have instituted, including remote schooling,…Nicole Russell -
- Opinion
Amid COVID-19’s Toll on Schools, Now More Than Ever, Students Need More Education Options
Editor’s note: Jan. 23-29 is National School Choice Week. This is the third in a five-part series of commentaries exploring the successes and challenges of educational choice and the people fighting to make it available to all American schoolchildren. By the end of 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic made us wonder whether the virus would ever…Jonathan Butcher -
- Opinion
Biden’s COVID-19 Tests Plan: Too Little, Too Late
President Joe Biden has a new plan on rapid, at-home COVID-19 testing, but as with much of his administration’s pandemic policy, the plan is convoluted, costly, and late. Making affordable, rapid at-home tests widely available empowers people to learn their COVID-19 status. Instead of relying on mandates and compulsion, this approach equips people to make…Doug Badger -
- Opinion
Why These Women Marched for Life, Against Vaccine Mandates
Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of the nation’s capital on Friday and again on Sunday to stand for life and protest government overreach. Despite temperatures being well below freezing Friday, busloads of students, church groups, and other Americans from across the county poured into Washington for the 49th annual March for Life. …Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
How the Feds Handcuff States to Medicaid
During the pandemic, the number of Americans enrolled in Medicaid skyrocketed from 75 million to 90 million. The issue? Not everyone currently enrolled in Medicaid is eligible. And the federal government is trying to prevent states from removing ineligible Americans from their rolls. This costs the taxpayer serious money, explains Hayden DuBlois, deputy research director…Douglas Blair -
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Doctors Diagnose Problems With Nation’s COVID-19 Response
Dr. Robert Malone became widely known recently for being banned on Twitter and for an interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast diverging from the prevailing view on COVID-19. “I’m speaking to you not only as a physician and scientist, but also as a father and grandfather. I’m also a COVID survivor. In my opinion,…Fred Lucas -
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EXCLUSIVE: Republican Lawmakers Accuse Biden Administration of Targeting Federal Employees Seeking Religious Exemptions From COVID-19 Vaccine
Republican members of Congress are accusing President Joe Biden of targeting Americans seeking religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine. “Your administration’s attempt to use the power of the federal government to single out Americans who object to the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds is inexcusable and must be withdrawn,” reads the letter, first obtained by…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Biden Voter Explains Her Stand Against COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
At the “Defeat the Mandates” rally in Washington, D.C., Sunday, one woman explained why she’s concerned about COVID-19 vaccine mandates. She also talks about voting for President Joe Biden and what she thinks of how he’s handled COVID-19.Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
We Hear You: When Authorities Use COVID-19 to Violate Rights
Editor's note: Americans' rights during the pandemic are very much on the minds of The Daily Signal's audience, judging by reaction to our related coverage on vaccine mandates. Check out these examples from the mailbag at [email protected].—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: In light of the Supreme Court's decision to block the vaccine mandate for private…Ken McIntyre -
- News
EXCLUSIVE: GOP Lawmakers Demand FDA Explain Inaccurate Prenatal Tests Following Damning Report
Republicans are demanding answers from the Food and Drug Administration following a damning report that the vast majority of noninvasive prenatal tests are inaccurate. In a letter first obtained by The Daily Signal propelled by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, Rep. Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota, and Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, the group of Republican…Mary Margaret Olohan -
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Poll: 71% of Americans Want Limits on Abortion, Rejecting Central Tenet of Roe v. Wade
Many Americans reject a central tenet of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion and want to return the power to limit abortion to the states, a poll released Thursday found. Some 71% of Americans support legal limits on abortion, according to a new poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus and…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Blackburn, GOP Call for Answers on Federal Abortion Funding
Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee is leading Republican lawmakers in calling on the Government Accountability Office to explain what kind of federal funding Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers are receiving. In a letter sent Tuesday, the lawmakers reminded the Government Accountability Office that the agency has prepared several congressionally requested reports in the past…Mary Margaret Olohan -
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Why Some Parents Choose to Continue Homeschooling After Pandemic
Sandra Kim, a resident of Loudoun County, Virginia, started homeschooling her three children in the summer of 2020. She doesn’t necessarily have a problem with public schools, Kim says, but realized her children—Yenna Elizabeth, now 13, Emily, 10, and Teddy, 8—could do more. The Virginia mother's second grader, Teddy, now is doing higher-level math and…Melanie Wilcox -
- Opinion
To End Abortion, Changing Hearts Is Even More Important Than Changing Laws
I’ve attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C., numerous times since they began in the mid-1970s, but this year, I have a sense of anticipation and excitement like I’ve never experienced before. Along with other pro-lifers around the country, I’m encouraged to see better protections for our smallest citizens in Texas and Alabama. I’m…Dave Pivonka -
- Opinion
It’s Official: It’s OK to Be Racist If You’re the Left Pushing COVID-19 Mandates
Following the lead of other leftist-run cities, the District of Columbia just instituted a new COVID-19 mandate that requires anyone who wants to dine at a restaurant, go to a movie, or workout at a gym to show proof of vaccination. But a big part of the story that many in the media seem to…Brian Gottstein -
- News
EXCLUSIVE: Congressman Demands HHS Rescind ‘Blatantly Discriminatory’ Guidance Prioritizing Race, Ethnicity in COVID-19 Treatments
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona called on the Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday to “immediately rescind” guidance indicating that race and ethnicity should be prioritized in providing COVID-19 treatments. The Republican congressman’s letter follows Food and Drug Administration guidance repeatedly stating that “race or ethnicity” are medical conditions or factors that may…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
18 More Federal Agencies Eye Making Vaccine Religious-Objector Lists
This week, we revealed that an obscure federal agency plans to keep lists of the “personal religious information” employees who had religious objections to the federal employee vaccine mandate. As it turns out, the little-known Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia isn’t the only federal agency involved. As we feared, a whole-of-government effort…Sarah Parshall Perry -
- Opinion
9 Reasons Not to Pass Yet Another Federal COVID-19 ‘Relief’ Spending Package
Now almost two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and after $6.6 trillion in total federal spending on it—the equivalent of $51,600 per household—some policymakers want to pass yet another so-called COVID-19 relief package. Not only has Congress already spent more than it should have, some of the previous COVID-19 relief spending is actually hurting…Rachel Greszler