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
6 Big Points From the Senate’s COVID-19 Hearing With Fauci
In one of the most unusual Senate hearings in U.S. history, top Trump administration health officials testified remotely Tuesday from their homes and offices to senators who also mostly were at home. Here are six big moments from the three-and-a-half-hour hearing on the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic held via video by the… -
opinion
5 Key Provisions in Democrats’ COVID-19 Bill That Will Hurt Our Economy
House Democrats have released a completely unserious proposal to respond to the public health and economic crisis the nation is confronting as a result of COVID-19. Spanning more than 1,800 pages, the bill represents a partisan laundry list of mostly bad policies, calling for trillions of dollars of additional deficit spending on handouts and items… -
opinion
Protecting Property Rights Now and in a Post-Pandemic Economy
The United States was ranked 17th in The Heritage Foundation’s latest Index of Economic Freedom. That’s not what Americans should expect from a nation whose foundation is built upon freedom. How do we get back on course? A new Heritage report, “Restoring America as the Land of the Free,” outlines the path. >>> When can… -
opinion
I’m an ER Physician. Here’s Why Abortion Isn’t an ‘Essential Health Service.’
Although we appear to be “flattening the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic, with governors slowly lifting stay-at-home orders and hospitals beginning to schedule surgeries again, infection spikes in certain regions remain a possibility. Throughout the coming months, we need to focus as a society on medical care that will not only help us survive but… -
news
COVID-19 Testing Reaches 300,000 Per Day as States Get $11B Aid Package
As the United States is about to pass the milestone of doing 10 million tests for the coronavirus, the White House announced an $11 billion aid package to help states boost testing. “This will give them the resources to partner, as they have, with the federal government … and to achieve their testing goals,” Adm…. -
news
How ‘Stakeholder’ Movement Could Hinder Economic Recovery From COVID-19
A crisis could be the worst time to pressure companies to adopt policies that aren’t in the best interest of the bottom line or their workforce, conservative shareholders say. “This is particularly true in an economic crisis,” Justin Danhof, general counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research, told The Daily Signal in a… -
opinion
COVID-19 Not the Only Threat From China
The destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent demise of the Soviet Union two years later lulled the West into a false sense of security. Many appeared to believe that an age of unending peace and prosperity had been ushered in. While terrorism would become a stateless threat, most people probably thought… -
opinion
Why Trade Freedom Will Be Key to Post-COVID-19 Global Economic Rebound
The World Trade Organization recently reported that half of its member countries currently imposing coronavirus pandemic-related export-control restrictions were not reporting those controls. The report highlighted the lack of transparency and long-term risks that shortsighted restrictions pose to trade flows and global supply chains. In particular, the World Trade Organization report noted, “80 countries and… -
opinion
It’s Time for Some Commonsense ‘MommySense’ on COVID-19 and Personal Freedom
President Ronald Reagan in 1986 famously said the scariest words in the English language are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” In the past decade, however, those words have been replaced with even scarier ones: “We have to do something.” While the government is busy doing “something,” the families of America are… -
news
In Europe, Russian Military Aggression Proves Immune to the Pandemic
KYIV, Ukraine—As countries across Europe begin scaling back their coronavirus lockdowns, a snapshot of Russian military activities underscores that the Continent’s security problems before the pandemic haven’t gone away. NATO fighter jets intercepted Russian military aircraft approaching allied airspace three times between April 28 and April 29. Combined Russian-separatist forces—operating under Moscow’s command—continued their daily… -
opinion
Economic Freedom of ‘Quad’ Nations Can Accelerate COVID-19 Recovery
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, comprising the U.S., Australia, Japan, and India, was born out of the response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The dialogues were suspended in 2008, but since the Trump administration resurrected them in 2017, they have assumed much greater strategic significance vis-a-vis China. Now it’s time for the “Quad” to assemble… -
opinion
Media’s Outrage at US Over EU’s COVID-19 Vaccine Fundraiser Is Baseless
The European Union organized a teleconference earlier this week to solicit pledges of funds to support efforts to develop and produce a COVID-19 vaccine. The effort raised $8.1 billion in pledges, mostly from “around 40 countries, the U.N., research institutes, and philanthropic bodies, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,” according to the Agence France-Presse… -
opinion
What Are We Trying to Accomplish With Coronavirus Policy?
As Americans debate how to reopen our society in the wake of COVID-19, we seem to be breaking down into three groups: first, those who believe the virus isn’t particularly serious and desperately want to reopen everything as soon as possible (a small minority of Americans, by polling data); second, those who believe the virus… -
news
Trump Urges Nation to Pray for Recovery, Renewal After Coronavirus
President Donald Trump called for Americans to continue to pray amid the COVID-19 crisis Thursday, as clergy of several faiths prayed for the nation’s recovery in the Rose Garden of the White House. “As Scripture assures us, ‘The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.’ I think it’s so… -
opinion
Over Half of US Counties Have Had No COVID-19 Deaths
With many state and local governments starting to relax stay-at-home orders, it’s instructive to examine just how concentrated the spread of COVID-19 has been in the U.S. Although all U.S. states have reported cases of COVID-19, the distribution of the cases and deaths has remained heavily concentrated in a small number of states, and among… -
opinion
What You Need to Know About Contact Tracing, Privacy, and COVID-19
Contact tracing is seen as one way to fight COVID-19. But does the tracing, which would mean tracking a person who had been physically near in recent days, involve giving up too much privacy? Klon Kitchen, a senior research fellow in technology at The Heritage Foundation, joins The Daily Signal Podcast to discuss how contact… -
opinion
4 Ways the Private Sector Is Combating COVID-19
In the “whole of country” approach the United States has taken to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, companies large and small—and from a variety of industries—have joined the fight by developing diagnostic tests, altering production to make medical equipment and necessary supplies, and donating resources to those who need them. >>> When can America reopen? The… -
opinion
Hope for Tolerance? New Yorkers Grateful to Samaritan’s Purse for COVID-19 Help
Samaritan’s Purse doesn’t serve to get praise. And that’s a good thing in places like New York City, where radical liberals refuse to give it any. Even now, after treating 315 patients in its field hospital in Central Park, the news that the Rev. Franklin Graham’s work might soon be done was the only thing… -
opinion
How the CDC Could Optimize Best Practices From COVID-19 Hot Spots
The COVID-19 pandemic that grips America and the whole world is caused by SARS-CoV2, a novel coronavirus that was completely alien to the human immune system prior to last winter. The virus wasn’t known to be in America before Jan. 20, when it was first reported here. As a result, physicians in America have been… -
opinion
COVID-19 Measures Highlight Absurdity of Plastic Bag Bans
Recently, many politicians were in such a hurry to ban plastic bags. California and Hawaii banned them, then New York. Then Oregon, Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont passed laws against them. More than 400 cities did, too. Why? Because plastic bags are evil, didn’t you know? “Look at the damage done by plastic bags! It is…