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
Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate ‘a Travesty,’ Sen. Ron Johnson Says
President Joe Biden has rolled out a COVID-19 vaccine mandate affecting about 80 million American workers. Biden is ordering all businesses and other organizations with 100 or more employees to make sure those employees either become vaccinated or are tested weekly for the disease. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., says he is outraged by what he… -
news
Sen. Ron Johnson: Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Meets ‘Definition of Insanity’
The Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers, set to go into effect Friday, poses risks to some Americans, further burdens the economy, and comes close to fitting the “definition of insanity,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., says. “Have all these policy responses worked? The shutdowns? The mandates?” Johnson asked rhetorically during remarks Thursday at… -
news
Sen. Marsha Blackburn Aims to Help ‘Essential Workers’ Who Face Firing Under Biden Vaccine Mandates
Sen. Marsha Blackburn is standing behind essential workers who may be fired for standing up to President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates, she told The Daily Signal. “It is so important that we give them the opportunity to have their choice,” the Tennessee Republican said Thursday in a phone interview. Blackburn has introduced legislation, dubbed the… -
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… -
news
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… -
news
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… -
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… -
news
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… -
news
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… -
opinion
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… -
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… -
opinion
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… -
opinion
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… -
opinion
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
opinion
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… -
opinion
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…