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

    4 Ways to Work From Home—and Still Parent—Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

    If you’re like me, your kids’ school has closed for the unforeseeable future because of the coronavirus—anywhere from two to eight weeks—and your employer has requested that you work from home, or maybe you already do. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for about 13 years and have done a mix of homeschooling, part-time work, and…
    Nicole Russell
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    • News

    4 Ways Coronavirus May Change How You Vote

    Rock the Vote and other slogans have been staples in past elections. For 2020, it’s about Sanitize the Vote. The coronavirus pandemic already has affected the 2020 election season, amid speculation that it could have greater impact in the months ahead.  Election officials in most states and localities are partnering with the U.S. Department of…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    How the US Military Should—and Shouldn’t—Be Used to Defeat Coronavirus

    America is facing a major crisis. COVID-19 is rolling across the nation, as it has China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, and Italy. No one was ready for this new coronavirus, and measures that seemed wildly over the top even two weeks ago are being implemented nearly every day. It is time to think about another set of…
    Steven Bucci
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    • Opinion

    Expelling US Journalists, China Escalates Political Warfare Over Coronavirus

    In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the People’s Republic of China has taken the opportunity to further close off the rest of the world’s view of its internal behavior. Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a declaration Tuesday that expels journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal….
    Dean Cheng
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    • News

    Trump’s Retort to Media Suggestions of Racism on Coronavirus: ‘It Comes From China’

    President Donald Trump hit a nerve with some in the news media Wednesday when he opened his press briefing on the coronavirus by saying: “I would like to begin by announcing some important developments in our war against the Chinese virus.” In response to repeated questions, Trump said several times: “It comes from China.” But…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Chinese Coronavirus Disinformation Campaign Targets United States

    China’s secrecy about the exploding coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan Province in December, typical of authoritarian regimes, caused a disastrous delay in international pathogen-fighting efforts. Now, the Chinese government, trying to deflect blame, has added insult to injury by falsely and absurdly accusing the United States of being the origin of the pandemic. It is straight…
    Helle Dale
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    • Opinion

    Can Trump Use Coronavirus to Delay 2020 Election?

    With Congress, the Supreme Court, sports leagues, schools, and many businesses and companies across America shutting down, only time will tell if we are being appropriately cautious or engaging in a hysterical overreaction to coronavirus.  But for those imaginative reporters who see a Russian lurking behind every tree and keep asking me if President Donald Trump can…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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    • Opinion

    A Doctor’s Answers to All Your Questions About COVID-19

    Today we’re interviewing Kevin Pham, a doctor and a contributor to The Daily Signal, about COVID-19. How real is this threat? How is it like and unlike seasonal flu and the swine flu? When do you need to call a doctor if you have symptoms? How soon can we expect a vaccine, and how likely…
    Katrina Trinko
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    • Opinion

    Churches on the Front Lines of Responding to Coronavirus

    “Hunger doesn’t take a break at times like this.” And neither does Second Harvest Heartland. For food bank workers like Allison O’Toole, coronavirus is only part of the country’s crisis. The other? Feeding struggling families and older people who don’t want to leave their homes. But as the need intensifies, so are a lot of churches’…
    Tony Perkins
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    • Opinion

    Share Your Tales of Life in the Shadow of COVID-19

    How are you and your family responding to the “new normal” in this, the time of coronavirus? How about your workplace or place of worship? Things have changed dramatically in America almost overnight because of the new coronavirus disease, which health officials call COVID-19. Here at The Daily Signal, we’d like to hear your stories…
    Ken McIntyre
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    • Opinion

    The Last Great Pandemic

    Hardly anything that happens in this world is truly unprecedented. As Americans respond to the coronavirus pandemic, which began in China, with canceled events, business closures, and aggressive social distancing, many are taking an interest in another great pandemic that took place a hundred years ago. “We have an invisible enemy. We have a problem that a…
    Jarrett Stepman
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    • Opinion

    ‘Flattening the Curve’ Critical to Fighting Coronavirus

    Some commentators have ominously suggested that the United States is just a few days—maybe a week to 10 days—behind the crippling coronavirus crisis that is hammering Europe, especially Italy. If true, that’s troubling. That said, however, taking personal responsibility for doing the right thing with public hygiene and the new (to most of us) concept…
    Peter Brookes
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    • News

    ‘Going Big’: White House Says COVID-19 Relief Checks on Way to Americans

    To stimulate a flagging economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration is “going big” by sending out checks directly to Americans.  During the daily briefing with the White House’s coronavirus task force, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said more details are coming, but suggested the amount of money in the…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Coronavirus Shows the Importance of Telehealth

    The coronavirus pandemic has renewed interest in telehealth—the practice of letting patients consult with doctors directly, via phone or video conferencing. This method of health care delivery offers obvious advantages, allowing patients to get personal medical advice quickly, without having to come to the doctor’s office first. President Donald Trump reiterated his commitment to clearing…
    Marie Fishpaw
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    • Opinion

    Here’s How the Courts Are Coping With Coronavirus

    With schools, businesses, and many government offices closing in an effort to halt the spread of coronavirus, state and federal courts are starting to follow suit. Courts across the country are grappling with how to respond to the outbreak while balancing the health and safety of court personnel and litigants against the need to handle…
    Elizabeth Slattery
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    • News

    Trump Says COVID-19 Could Last Until Summer, Urges Social Distancing

    President Donald Trump said Monday that concerted diligence on the part of every American is necessary to stop the spread of the coronavirus. “With several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner and turn it quickly,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. The president recommended that Americans not take…
    Rachel del Guidice
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    • Opinion

    Coronavirus Testing Delays Show Why Federal Health Care Rules Need Thorough Review

    The coronavirus pandemic demonstrates with crystal clarity how the federal government’s vast regulatory apparatus governing health care can be an obstacle to rapid response in a national emergency. We’ve seen this movie before. The law of unintended consequences is an ironclad rule of public policy, and in health policy, that law can go berserk. The…
    Robert Moffit
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    • News

    A Tale of 2 Pandemics and the Government’s Response

    The first confirmed case in the United States was on the West Coast. The spread was faster than governments or hospitals were prepared for. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic, and the U.S. president eventually declared a national emergency.  Before it was over, the pandemic had hit 60.8 million Americans, hospitalized 274,304, and…
    Fred Lucas
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    • Opinion

    Our Efforts to Fight Coronavirus Require Individual Responsibility

    The novel coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, mostly has outpaced efforts by nearly every national government to prevent its spread. And the United States has yet to face the brunt of the disease’s effect. As of this writing, the virus has reached every state save for West Virginia. It is likely that this is only…
    Kevin Pham
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    • Opinion

    Trump’s Emergency Declaration Allows US to Escalate War on Coronavirus

    History condemns generals who plan to fight the last war, rather than anticipate the challenges ahead. Effective leaders strive to get in front of the problem. In his Rose Garden news conference Friday outlining the federal government’s next steps to get in front of the advancing coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump was much more forward-looking than his critics….
    James Carafano
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