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
Everything You Need to Know About China and Its Handling of COVID-19
Could the coronavirus have originated from one of China’s wet markets? Is internal dissent growing in China? Is China using Zoom to spy on Americans? What kind of propaganda is China putting out about COVID-19? Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, addresses all these questions and…Rachel del Guidice -
- News
Coronavirus Commission Examines How to Get America Back to Work
Before many Americans are able to go back to work, the country will have to reach four goals amid the COVID-19 pandemic, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said as the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission began to study related issues. “No. 1, we need to stop the spread. That has not been stopped,” Frist, a…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
COVID-19 Should Make Us Appreciate Miracle of Life, Not Make Abortions ‘Essential’
Here are a few examples of headlines over recent weeks. “Republicans exploit coronavirus to restrict abortions.” —Los Angeles Times “The Coronavirus Becomes an Excuse to Restrict Abortions.” —The New York Times “Texas women forced to travel 20 times farther for abortion under coronavirus ban.” —The Hill Five states—Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Iowa, and Mississippi—that are prohibiting…Star Parker -
- News
How Reporter From Pro-Beijing Outlet Got Access to White House Coronavirus Press Briefing
A reporter from a Hong Kong outlet aligned with the Communist Party of China is a member of the White House Foreign Press Group and has rotating access to White House press briefings. That is how the Phoenix TV reporter was able to push pro-Beijing talking points, touting Chinese aid to other countries, during the White House…Peter Hasson -
- Opinion
China Keeps Suppressing Religion While Squelching Truth About COVID-19
China now reports close to zero new cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan, the one-time epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak. This latest claim follows a string of other positive reports, leading many to extol China’s drastic containment measures and hold it up as an example of a country successfully fighting the coronavirus. Numbers aside—themselves dubious,…Travis Weber -
- News
Fauci Says He ‘Fully’ Expects Schools to Reopen in the Fall as Coronavirus Is Brought ‘Under Control’
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday he expects schools in the United States to be able to reopen by the fall as health officials get the novel coronavirus “under control” through widespread testing. “I fully expect, though I’m humble enough to know that I can’t accurately predict, but by the time we get to the fall…Chuck Ross -
- News
Trump Considers Defunding ‘China-Centric’ WHO for Botched COVID-19 Response
President Donald Trump floated the idea of defunding the World Health Organization after its botched response to the coronavirus pandemic on the same day the international body marked its 72nd anniversary. “We are going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We are going to put a very powerful hold on it…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Japan Dodged a COVID-19 Bullet … Or Did It?
There has been far less international focus on Japan’s low-key response to COVID-19 than on South Korea’s extensive testing program. The latter strategy is now extolled as an international model for bending the curve, but with few early cases in Japan, media reports questioned how the country had done so well with such little effort….Bruce Klingner -
- Opinion
Don’t Believe Russia’s Disinformation About Coronavirus
For the past couple of weeks, Russia has been sowing disinformation about the coronavirus. Various Russian news sources have claimed that the U.S. started the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. deployed the virus as a “biological weapon,” or that the virus is a complete hoax created by the United States. These statements are false and clearly…Alexis Mrachek -
- Opinion
We Don’t Need Terrorism Charges to Prosecute Those Who Cough to Spread COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic has brought out the best in some people. Unfortunately, it also has brought out the very worst in others. For reasons that decent folks probably never will understand, some bad actors have threatened to spread COVID-19 intentionally by coughing on people and produce in grocery stores and elsewhere. A man in New…GianCarlo Canaparo -
- Opinion
New COVID-19 Tests Will Inform Our Endgame
Public health authorities are making life-and-death decisions. To make good decisions, federal and state policymakers must be able to understand the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that requires solid data. The truth: Medical experts have been working in the dark. They do not have an accurate picture of how many people have the virus…Amy Anderson -
- Opinion
After COVID-19, 4 Ways the US Can Put Pressure on China
Even before COVID-19 cases spiked in the U.S., members of Congress were drafting legislation to punish China. Odds are the pandemic won’t be the great turning point in Sino-American relations that some anticipate. But don’t expect Washington to ease the pressure on Beijing. That will continue so long as the regime persists in its destabilizing…James Carafano -
- Opinion
Will Coronavirus Change What We Value?
In the story “A Christmas Carol,” when Charles Dickens received “visits” from all three ghosts in one night, he shouts so all can hear, “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the past, the present, and the future. The spirits of all three…Nicole Russell -
- Opinion
Even in Pandemic, America Still the Global Leader
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has gone on the offensive to correct misapprehensions about American and Chinese leadership in the coronavirus crisis. China has ramped up a global propaganda battle, hoping to move into the leadership position. Yet, as a country that was the origin of the coronavirus, the cause of the global crisis, and…Helle Dale -
- Opinion
Middle East Coronavirus Data Sketchy, Leaving Populaces to Suffer
As the coronavirus continues to affect daily life around the world, one region that should be of particular concern for the United States is the Middle East. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, economic fragility, varying levels of stability, and civil wars have weakened the region’s ability to effectively deal with a mass outbreak. While there…Nicole Robinson -
- Opinion
Permanent Repeal of the Jones Act Would Be a Winning Response to COVID-19
A waiver of the century-old Merchant Marine Act, also known as the Jones Act, was said to be on the table at Friday’s White House meeting between President Donald Trump and U.S. oil producers. If legislation was passed to make such a waiver permanent, applying it to all shipments, not just oil, that would be…Patrick Tyrrell -
- Opinion
The Importance of Optimism Amid COVID-19 Crisis
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” (Proverbs 17:22 NLT) Everywhere you look—from newspaper headlines, to TV “alerts,” to those too-long White House briefings, to people wearing masks in public places, there is hardly any news that isn’t negative. Stories of people not getting the coronavirus, much less…Cal Thomas -
- News
Heritage Foundation Launches National Coronavirus Recovery Commission
The Heritage Foundation on Monday unveiled a new commission intended to “save lives and livelihoods” in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission “will examine the extraordinary public health crisis facing America and the steps needed to move prudently toward recovery,” the Washington-based think tank announced. The commission—online at CoronavirusCommission.com—will be spearheaded…Rachel del Guidice -
- News
5 Things to Know About This Anti-Malaria Drug’s Effect on COVID-19
The federal government has stockpiled 29 million pills of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as the best known way to treat active cases of COVID-19, and thousands of patients in New York will take it. But using the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug to treat COVID-19 has sparked an intense political controversy. President Donald Trump, who…Fred Lucas -
- News
China Swoops in to Help Ukraine Fight Coronavirus
KYIV, Ukraine—China has been front and center in helping Ukraine respond to its coronavirus outbreak, underscoring what some say is Beijing’s global gambit to exploit the pandemic for geopolitical gain and exonerate itself for allowing the disease to spread. “China is trying to shape the post-outbreak world, even as it has lied to the world,…Nolan Peterson