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
How Robust Education Marketplace Could Combat Learning Loss From COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic drastically changed K-12 education, as U.S. public and private schools complied with state-mandated closures a year ago. As of January, 72% of the nation’s 56.4 million schoolchildren were learning in remote or hybrid models, according to a nationally representative survey of families. Amid ongoing calls from special-interest groups for continued school closures…Jude Schwalbach -
- News
As More Schools Reopen, CDC Now Says Students Can Sit Just 3 Feet Apart
As more schools around the country move toward reopening, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidance Friday, saying that K-12 students may sit 3 feet apart instead of 6 feet—as long as they wear masks. That’s regardless of whether the children are in “areas of low, moderate, or substantial community transmission” of…Steven Hall -
- News
Read the Paul-Fauci Exchange About Wearing Masks After Vaccination
During a Senate hearing Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul and Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, sparred over whether masks should be used after a person has received a COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s a transcript of their exchange, which occurred during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing: Rand…Daily Signal Staff -
- News
Senate Narrowly Confirms Xavier Becerra to Lead Health and Human Services
The Senate narrowly confirmed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra Thursday to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Becerra, who also previously served in the House of Representatives, was confirmed 50-49, with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, joining Democrats in voting for him. The vote was the closest of any of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees so…Andrew Trunsky -
- Opinion
Team Biden Spreads Fake News About Trump Vaccine Record
Team Biden has a persistent lying problem when it comes to the Trump administration’s supposedly terrible record with the coronavirus vaccine. You could see it again in a March 11 prime-time NBC News coronavirus special, “COVID One Year Later: Life After Lockdown.” On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, anchorman Lester Holt suggested to White…Tim Graham -
- Opinion
More Children 14 and Under Are Murdered Than Die of COVID-19
American children 14 years and younger are more likely to be murdered than to die because of COVID-19, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Jan. 12, the federal agency’s National Center for Health Statistics published its final report on the death data for the United States in 2018….Terence Jeffrey -
- Opinion
The End of COVID-19 Pandemic Is in Sight, Data Show
When it comes to COVID-19 policy, President Joe Biden has clearly opted for a go-slow approach. If we “follow the science,” though, it’s apparent that he’s being too cautious. In his first prime-time address in office, he addressed the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in America. He expressed hope that, by Independence Day, family and…Kevin Pham -
- Opinion
Trump, Not Biden, Deserves Credit for Progress Against COVID-19
When a politician promises to “tell the truth,” as President Joe Biden did in his nationally televised address last Thursday, you can add that statement to familiar ones lacking the ring of sincerity. They include: “The gun isn’t loaded”; “the microphone is off”; “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor,” and “I…Cal Thomas -
- Opinion
Biden Wants a Culture Warrior at HHS. That’s a Big Mistake.
The Senate will soon vote on President Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of health and human services, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Many organizations and members of Congress are calling for his nomination to be rejected—and with good reason. Becerra is unfit and unqualified to serve in this vitally important Cabinet position. Those unfamiliar with Becerra’s record…Melanie Israel -
- Opinion
Did COVID-19 Permanently Change Our View of Government Power?
Can the federal government ban evictions? Seems like a pretty straightforward question. But the answer touches on a deeper one, as yet unsettled: Will life after COVID-19 be normal? Consider what a federal judge said recently when he struck down a Centers for Disease Control ban on evictions, which the Trump administration instituted last year…Doug Badger -
- Opinion
Liberals Use COVID-19 Crisis to Achieve Policy Goals
For some special interests, a fading coronavirus pandemic poses a problem, but not always an insurmountable one. Big Labor and its acolytes cite the virus as a compelling reason for doubling the minimum wage and forcing businesses to provide more paid sick leave, while the Biden administration is using the pandemic as part of its justification for…Steve Miller -
- Opinion
How Congress Exacerbated Union Pension Crisis Under Guise of Coronavirus Relief
By the time this column appears in print, Congress will have passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. And that’s a shame. As its many critics have pointed out, only 9% of the bill actually goes toward fighting COVID-19. One of the bill’s many non-COVID-related provisions is an $86 billion unconditional cash giveaway to a…Rachel Greszler -
- Opinion
Biden’s Coronavirus Stimulus Bill: A $1.9 Trillion Disaster
President Joe Biden has signed his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law. Though regularly billed as “the COVID-19 relief bill,” Democrats’ legislation is not focused on reducing the spread of the disease. Instead, it is stuffed with a wish list of progressive policies that have nothing to do with the pandemic. In fact, less…Matthew Dickerson -
- Opinion
Biden’s COVID-19 Plan: Force Taxpayers to Pay for Abortions
Back in 1994, a worried Delaware taxpayer sent a message to his senator. “Please don’t force me to pay for abortions against my conscience,” he said. Joe Biden sent an unambiguous response. “I will continue to abide by the same principle that has guided me throughout my 21 years in the Senate: those of us…Terence Jeffrey -
- News
Which States Do Better, Worse at Giving COVID-19 Shots
North Dakota and New Mexico have outperformed most other states in getting needles into arms, using about 96% of their allotments of COVID-19 vaccines for residents, The Daily Signal has learned. At the other extreme, Tennessee, the District of Columbia, and Alabama each is at or below 70% use of the vaccine doses received. Using data…Fred Lucas -
- News
WHO Won’t Release Interim Report on COVID-19 Origins Amid Growing Scientific Concerns Over Legitimacy of Its Investigation
The World Health Organization team that announced in February it was “extremely unlikely” that COVID-19 could have accidentally leaked from a Wuhan lab has scrapped previously announced plans to release an interim report on its findings. WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told The Daily Caller News Foundation Feb. 10 that the report would be released “in…Andrew Kerr -
- Opinion
Merrick Garland Approved Illegal Immigrant Teen’s US Abortion
Three-and-a-half years ago, two alien children were caught illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States. One of these children decided she wanted to terminate the life of the other. She was the 17-year-old mother. The other was the 7-week-old baby in that mother’s womb. The agency that arrested this pregnant teenager turned her…Terence Jeffrey -
- Opinion
Sen. Marsha Blackburn on Why $1.9 Trillion in COVID-19 ‘Relief’ Isn’t That
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., says Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill, among other things, has “only about 10%” that actually deals with the pandemic while providing “$350 billion to bail out the blue states.” Blackburn, today’s guest on “The Daily Signal Podcast,” also says that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “wants $112 million for the Bay Area…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
91% of COVID-19 Bill Just ‘Democrat Wish List,’ Rep. Ted Budd Says
Rachel del Guidice: I’m joined today on “The Daily Signal Podcast” by Congressman Ted Budd of North Carolina. Congressman Budd, it’s great to have you with us on “The Daily Signal Podcast.“ Rep. Ted Budd: Rachel, thanks for having me. >>> Listen to the interview with Rep. Budd: Del Guidice: Thanks for being with us….Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
It’s Not a COVID-19 Relief Bill. It’s Christmas for Democrats.
Republicans should stop referring to the Democrats’ newest ideological wish list as a COVID-19 “relief bill” or “rescue bill,” or any of the other euphemistic misnomers used by the media. Surely, there is some GOP spin doctor who can come up with a catchier, more precise name for President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion partisan monstrosity?…David Harsanyi