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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- Opinion
Will Meeting With Pope Francis Change Biden’s Abortion Views?
A Catholic American president traveled to Rome on Friday to meet with Pope Francis. There is a very profound and obvious issue they could discuss: Is it OK for a politician of any religious faith, or even none at all, to violate the natural law and support the deliberate killing of unborn babies? President Joe…Terence Jeffrey -
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EXCLUSIVE: Lawmakers, Ambassadors Commemorate Global Declaration Challenging ‘Right’ to Abortion, Upholding Role of Family
Lawmakers, ambassadors, and embassy officials gathered Thursday in Washington to commemorate a pro-life, pro-family international declaration signed by the United States during the Trump administration. President Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal of the United States from the Geneva Consensus Declaration almost immediately after he succeeded Donald Trump as president Jan. 20. Speakers at the gathering…Mary Margaret Olohan -
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March for Life Eyes Equality for Unborn Ahead of Major Supreme Court Abortion Case
The 2022 March for Life will lean into a theme of equality for the unborn, the event's organizers said Wednesday, as they announced the annual march’s theme: “Equality Begins in the Womb.” “The pro-life movement recognizes the immense responsibility this nation bears to restore equal rights to its most defenseless citizens in the womb,” March…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
Congress Didn’t Give OSHA Authority to Impose Vaccine Mandates
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is about to require 80 million working Americans to get vaccinated. You may be among them. There’s just one catch: OSHA lacks the legal authority to impose a vaccine mandate. Declaring that his patience was “wearing thin” with unvaccinated Americans, President Joe Biden on Sept. 9 announced that OSHA…Doug Badger -
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Vaccine Mandates Decimating Police Forces Across US
As crime rates surge, so are vaccine mandates—and resistance by police to those mandates. That means major cities across the United States risk losing one-third or more of their police forces, hesitant about getting the COVID-19 shot. In Chicago, more than 4,500 employees of the Chicago Police Department—about one-third of both officers and civilian employees—refused…Fred Lucas -
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CDC Says 5 Year Olds Will Still Need to Wear Masks After Vaccine Is Approved for Kids
Students as young as 5 years old may still need to wear masks in school after the COVID-19 vaccine is approved for children ages 5-11, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said in a White House briefing Wednesday. Walensky did not discuss if or when children would not be required to wear…Laurel Duggan -
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Has COVID-19 Changed Dating Game Forever?
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, dating apps saw a surge in usage. In March 2020, Dating.com reported online dating was up 82%. Forbes reports that from March to May 2020, OkCupid saw dates increase by 700%. With more people using platforms such as Zoom or Bubble video calls to go on first…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
UN Health Special Rapporteur Supports Abortion at Expense of Women’s Health
The United Nation’s top health czar presented her debut report to the international assembly on Oct. 20. While the COVID-19 pandemic provides a point of departure for the presentation, the report’s real focus was abortion. Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng is the new U.N. special rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health. Her report focuses on the topic of women’s “sexual and reproductive health rights.” Such reports from international officials may seem irrelevant to pro-life Americans, but…Grace Melton -
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This Doctor Opposes COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate. Now His State Won’t Let Him Practice Medicine.
Dr. Stephen Skoly is a well-known oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Rhode Island. He has been called to testify before lawmakers and serves as chairman of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity. But recently, Skoly made news for another reason: He opposes his state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Because of his principled stand, he…Robert B. Bluey -
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Blame Government, Not COVID-19, for Supply Chain Collapse
Having made a mess of Afghanistan, the Biden administration now turns its trademark incompetence to something closer to home; namely, the supply chains that put toys under our Christmas trees and food on our tables. Biden is using the pandemic as an excuse, but the truth is that government diktats, handouts, and cronyism have catastrophically…Peter St. Onge -
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Leftists Celebrating Conservatives Who Die of COVID-19 Is a New Low Even for the Left
Popular social media site Reddit seems to be suffering from a huge lack of empathy. Visitors to the site are greeted not just by pictures of cats or the newest Marvel trailer, but posts from an increasingly popular subreddit called r/HermanCainAward. The subreddit is named after former businessman and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who…Douglas Blair -
- Opinion
Biden’s Vaccine Mandates Needlessly Polarize, Impede Private Sector Labor Market
The Biden administration is impeding the private sector through its federal vaccine mandates. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday forwarded a vaccine rule to the Office of Management and Budget that requires vaccination of workers at businesses with 100 or more employees. Employees who refuse vaccination would have compulsory weekly…Elizabeth Hanke -
- Opinion
Vaccine Mandates Aren’t Biden’s Only Job-Killing Scheme
Despite $9 trillion in fiscal and monetary stimulus from the federal government, America has an employment problem. The Labor Department estimates that 10.4 million jobs remained unfilled in August, the most recent month for which figures are available, including 1.5 million in health care and social services. That same month, a record-high 4.3 million people…Doug Badger -
- Opinion
‘Build Back Better’ Plan Would Make Medicaid Bigger With Less Flexibility, Accountability
A lot of transformative health care policy is embedded in Democrats’ $3.5 trillion social spending bill, including continuation of the Biden administration’s campaign to strip away state flexibility and consolidate greater federal control over Medicaid. Medicaid, the joint federal-state program to provide health care services to certain low-income Americans, has seen an explosion in…Nina Owcharenko Schaefer -
- News
Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Depends on OSHA Emergency Regulation. Here’s How That’s Fared in Court.
President Joe Biden is using what one court opinion called “the most dramatic weapon in OSHA’s enforcement arsenal” to back up his COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employers with 100 or more workers. But relying on this bureaucratic weapon could be a risky strategy in the face of litigation threats, since courts have struck down all…Fred Lucas -
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This Group Is Suing Biden Administration Over Vaccine Mandates
Small businesses around the country are attempting to bounce back from the devastating effects of the pandemic. But vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden administration, critics say, threaten to crater the progress made by small companies just as they’re starting to get back on their feet. Alfredo Ortiz is president and CEO of Job Creators…Douglas Blair -
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American Liberty Must Not Become Coronavirus Casualty
When announcing his nationwide vaccine mandate, President Joe Biden declared, “This is not about freedom.” But for Americans who live outside the Beltway, it is absolutely about freedom, because America is about freedom. Yes, the coronavirus is still with us. Yes, it is still potentially dangerous, particularly to vulnerable Americans. But the need long since…Mike Pence -
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Vaccine Mandates Will Worsen Police Shortage as Crime Spikes, Missouri Attorney General Warns
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican, warned that vaccine mandates nationwide could lead to a greater police officer shortage even as crime surges. Schmitt, Missouri’s chief law enforcement officer, said he is worried that mandates will only worsen the wave of police officer retirement triggered by the “defund the police” movement last year. “You’ve got police…Thomas Catenacci -
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House Democrats Pass Bill Aiming to Codify Roe v. Wade, Massively Expand Abortion
House Democrats passed a bill Friday that would codify Roe v. Wade and massively expand abortions in the United States. The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021, first introduced in 2013, passed the House by a vote of 218 to 211. The 2021 House version was sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., while the 2021 Senate version was sponsored…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
I Protested My University’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate. Here’s What Happened.
Bowling Green State University, where I am a graduate student, instituted a COVID-19 vaccination mandate on Sept. 2. A professor had briefly mentioned in class that Bowling Green State University would likely mandate the vaccine since the university usually follows the actions of Ohio State University. Ohio State instituted a requirement that students receive the…Emily Smith