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

    Fitness Classes Are All but Banned in DC Over Baseless COVID-19 Fears

    For many Americans, fitness studios are an important part of an active and healthy lifestyle, one that helps them remain resilient against infections, including COVID-19, and have been linked to few, if any, outbreaks. Closing them down seems to have real downsides and little discernible benefit in terms of COVID-19 numbers. >>> What’s the best…
    Abigail Slagle
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    • Opinion

    9 Things You Need to Know About the $1.4 Trillion Fiscal Year 2021 Omnibus and $900 Billion COVID-19 Package

    Congressional leaders introduced on Monday a fiscal year 2021 omnibus appropriations bill that would provide $1.4 trillion in spending for government agencies as well as a variety of unrelated legislative provisions. Also included is another COVID-19 relief “stimulus” package, this one costing taxpayers nearly $1 trillion. Congressional leaders have the enormous and oftentimes difficult responsibility…
    Matthew Dickerson
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    • Opinion

    How the Trump Tax Cuts of 2017 Will Make COVID-19 Economic Recovery Easier

    December 22 marks the third anniversary of the signing into law of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the most sweeping update to the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years. As the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus-induced recession, policymakers shouldn’t lose sight of how the 2017 reforms resulted in immediate benefits…
    Adam Michel
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    • Opinion

    China Lies About Its Wrongdoing on COVID, Spying, Global Aggression, Pollution, and More

    The Chinese Communist Party has lied about COVID-19 from the start. And it’s still lying about the disease that has turned into a pandemic confirmed to be responsible for nearly 75 million infections around the world, including 17.2 million in the U.S. The global death toll from the pandemic is over 1.6 million, including more than 310,000 in the…
    James Carafano
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    • News

    FDA Authorizes First Over-the-Counter Home Coronavirus Test

    The Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter, at-home coronavirus test Tuesday. The test, developed by the Australian company Ellume Limited, is a rapid antigen test that can deliver results in approximately 20 minutes, and works on any patient older than 2 years of age, the FDA said in its announcement. “Today’s authorization is a major…
    Andrew Trunsky
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    • Opinion

    I’m a Doctor. Here’s Why I Plan to Get the Coronavirus Vaccine.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee concluded its Thursday meeting by recommending that a coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer be granted an emergency use authorization. Another vaccine, developed by biotech company Moderna, is expected to be authorized soon. Both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines show 95% efficacy in preventing…
    Kevin Pham
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    • News

    How Rapid-Result, at-Home Tests for COVID-19 Could Slash Infection Rate

    Imagine a tool that could significantly decrease the spread of COVID-19 in a month, and maybe stop the coronavirus altogether in less than a year.  This tool would be significantly cheaper than imposing lockdowns and other restrictions, and provide an avenue for schools and businesses to reopen. Imagine no further, because experts say that tool…
    Virginia Allen
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    • News

    Coronavirus Vaccinations Could Begin Monday, Reach 50 Million Americans by February, HHS Secretary Says

    Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that the first coronavirus vaccinations outside a clinical trial could begin as early as Monday. Azar’s announcement follows a key Food and Drug Administration panel’s vote of confidence Thursday for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, clearing the way for the agency to issue an emergency use authorization. The FDA said authorization would be…
    Andrew Trunsky
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    • Opinion

    The COVID-19 Threat Is Real

    Winter is coming and, like many of you, I’m deeply worried about how America is going to weather these upcoming months. You could say that many are scared to death with the specter of COVID-19 continuing to loom as the death toll reaches a stunning 284,000 souls in America alone. What’s worse? There is no…
    Armstrong Williams
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    • Opinion

    Why We Can’t Let COVID-19 Lockdowns Become a Permanent Political Power Grab

    This week, as Los Angeles County announced it would lock down all outdoor dining, a video went viral. That video featured restaurant owner Angela Marsden, proprietor of the Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill, decrying the lockdown policy while pointing to the erection of production catering set up for a Hollywood shoot just a few feet…
    Ben Shapiro
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    • Opinion

    Congress’ Race to Pass COVID-19 Relief Package

    The clock is ticking as Congress attempts to reach bipartisan agreement on a COVID-19 relief bill before Christmas. After multiple failed attempts to agree upon what should be included in a new aid package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are trying one more time to pass the package…
    Virginia Allen
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    • Opinion

    With COVID Lockdowns, Costs Must Be Weighed Against Benefits

    One of the first lessons in an economics class is that every action has a cost. That’s in stark contrast to lessons in the political arena, where politicians virtually ignore cost and talk about benefits and free stuff. If we look only at the benefits of an action, policy, or program, then we will do…
    Walter E. Williams
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    • Opinion

    Pro-Abortion Members of Congress Are Pushing for Taxpayer-Funded Abortion. Here’s What You Need to Know.

    Pro-abortion Democrats, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., are renewing their attempts to force taxpayers to fund elective abortions by attacking the Hyde Amendment. The attack came on Tuesday during a subcommittee hearing of the powerful Appropriations Committee for the House of Representatives, titled “The Impact on Women Seeking an Abortion but Are Denied Because…
    Melanie Israel
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    • News

    7 Things to Know About Biden’s Radical Choice to Run HHS

    California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, with a record in that state office and Congress that conservatives consider extreme, is headed for a rocky confirmation battle to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Former Vice President Joe Biden, in announcing Sunday his intent to nominate Becerra for HHS secretary, cited Becerra’s leadership in…
    Fred Lucas
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    • News

    ‘Aggressively Pro-Abortion’: Pro-Life Activists, Lawmakers Denounce Biden HHS Pick Xavier Becerra

    Pro-life groups and lawmakers denounced former Vice President Joe Biden’s choice of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Far from ‘uniting’ the country, Biden has proven yet again he is an extremist on abortion,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement following Biden’s Monday…
    Mary Margaret Olohan
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    • News

    ‘The Bill Walton Show’: Surviving COVID-19 With Jay Richards

    Weeks after Jay Richards, co-author of “The Price of Panic: How the Tyranny of Experts Turned a Pandemic Into a Catastrophe,” joined “The Bill Walton Show,” he contracted COVID-19. Now recovered, Richards rejoins the show to talk about his personal experience with the virus, the discussions he had with front-line health care workers, and why they…
    Bill Walton
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    • Opinion

    He Was Hospitalized by COVID-19. Here’s What He Wants You to Know.

    Allen Muench was fighting for his life when he checked into the hospital in November with COVID-19. After just 36 hours under the care of his doctors and nurses, Muench says he “felt like a new person.” Muench, a longtime Daily Signal subscriber from St. Louis, joins the show to share his personal experience with…
    Robert B. Bluey
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    • News

    CDC Tells Americans to ‘Stay at Home and Not Travel’ for Christmas

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discouraged Americans from Christmas travel due to the coronavirus pandemic during a telephone press conference Wednesday. “We did put out a message to postpone and stay at home […] around Thanksgiving and we’re putting out the same message: The best thing for Americans to do in the upcoming…
    Mary Rose Corkery
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    • Opinion

    The Dangers of Joe Biden’s Extreme Abortion Agenda

    In the aftermath of a singularly high-stakes election, as President Donald Trump fights to ensure that every legal vote is counted, former Vice President Joe Biden claims to want to unify our nation and even “heal” our collective soul. There is ample reason for skepticism. By all indications, Biden and Kamala Harris have not changed…
    Marjorie Dannenfelser
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    • News

    How a Congressman’s Brush With Abortion Spurred His Reverence for Life, Adoption

    Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., likely would not be alive today were it not for adoption.  An appreciation of adoption runs deep in the family. Schweikert’s father was adopted, as was the congressman, his two siblings, and his own young daughter. Schweikert’s personal experience with adoption led him to be a fierce advocate for children in…
    Virginia Allen
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