“Sweden has largely eschewed social distancing, choosing instead to permit more normal levels of economic and social interaction,” Galen Senior Fellow Doug Badger writes in a piece he coauthored for The Daily Signal.
So how is that working out? They link to an interview with one of the world’s leading epidemiologists, Johan Giesecke, who “gave a very blunt assessment of why he thinks Sweden’s approach is the right way to attack the COVID-19 problem.”
Listen to the much-viewed video here: “Swedish expert: why lockdowns are the wrong policy.”
In “Is Sweden’s COVID-19 Approach the Right One? What 1 Expert Thinks,” Badger and Norbert Michel of Heritage write about the next chapter in the virus response: “[T]he choice is not between maintaining current [lockdown] policies and doing nothing. The choice is between maintaining current policies and doing something that may be more effective.”
David Hogberg writes in the Washington Examiner about the former White House economists’ statement we released last week explaining the dangers and drawbacks of subsidizing COBRA premiums.
“Congress has already hampered a recovery by increasing unemployment benefits through August. In some cases, those benefits exceed what their jobs pay them. Subsidizing COBRA would only worsen the situation,” University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan and Galen Senior Fellows Brian Blase and Doug Badger argue.
Blase explained yesterday in the New York Post there are other options.
In “Now Democrats want taxpayers to subsidize insurance companies,” Blase writes: “As with anything else, people are best off when free to choose what health coverage works best for them. Many displaced workers will be able to use a portion of their unemployment benefit to remain on their employers’ plan through COBRA — an advantage because their deductibles and networks remain the same.
“Short-term plans expanded by the Trump administration, which can be obtained for as little as 3 percent of the weekly unemployment benefit in states where they are available, will offer the best value for many people looking for temporary coverage.”