The administration’s guidelines for “Opening Up America Again” rely heavily on the ability of states to develop a robust COVID-19 testing capacity, and Congress is negotiating adding as much as $25 billion to this week’s funding bill to significantly expand testing. Badger and Turner argue that a dramatic increase in coronavirus testing is needed before people will feel safe … [Read more...] about How to Resolve the Coronavirus Testing Crisis
Grace-Marie Turner
Smarter Planning for Hospital Surges
Expect calls in the next coronavirus bill for a massive expansion of hospital capacity in the U.S. with the federal government deciding how many beds to add and where to add them, funded by an enormous influx of inflationary federal spending. Doug Badger and Norbert Michel of Heritage have written a new paper that explains with data why this is an unquestionably bad idea. Their paper, … [Read more...] about Smarter Planning for Hospital Surges
Coverage in the Coronavirus Crisis
President Trump and Vice-President Pence were asked at both Wednesday and Thursday’s news conferences about their plan to protect the uninsured from financial ruin as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Galen Senior Fellow Brian Blase describes in a Forbes column today, How The Uninsured Can Gain Financial Protection From The Virus, three immediate options: 1) … [Read more...] about Coverage in the Coronavirus Crisis
A Gradual, Selective Approach To Opening Up The U.S. Economy
Different countries and different states in the U.S. are taking differing approaches to try to contain and defeat this “novel” lethal virus. Italy and South Korea are two examples. In this challenging and fast-moving environment, learning from other countries can help U.S. policymakers at both the federal and state levels improve our response. Italy has been hit hard. The country has an aging … [Read more...] about A Gradual, Selective Approach To Opening Up The U.S. Economy
Innovation, Information, And Ingenuity Can Fight COVID-19
The coronavirus crisis has, in a few short months, reshaped our lives, the world economy, and our health sector in a way that seemed unimaginable before this lethal pathogen began sweeping the planet. Reports yesterday warned we must prepare for a “pandemic that could last up to 18 months and include multiple waves of illness,” but that is static thinking. The U.S. government, … [Read more...] about Innovation, Information, And Ingenuity Can Fight COVID-19
Affordable Care Act at Ten: Huge Expansion of Welfare and Injury to Individual Insurance Market
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law March 23, 2010, represents the most sweeping federal health reform legislation since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. In the ensuing decade, the ACA has led to greater federal government control over the health care system through its mandates, subsidies, and taxes, leading to much higher costs and spending and fewer … [Read more...] about Affordable Care Act at Ten: Huge Expansion of Welfare and Injury to Individual Insurance Market
Congress Needs A Smart, Targeted, Flexible Approach To Fighting Virus Outbreak
The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on emergency legislation to help states fund their coronavirus response efforts, but the bill takes a simplistic, inequitable and mistargeted approach, according to Galen Senior Fellow Brian Blase. In their efforts to help states combat the virus and the resulting economic impact, “House Democrats advocate sending enormous sums to states — … [Read more...] about Congress Needs A Smart, Targeted, Flexible Approach To Fighting Virus Outbreak
Health Reform Must Energize State Engagement
Amid the avalanche of news this week, the Supreme Court lit up the hottest issue in the 2020 campaign when it announced it will hear a third challenge to the Affordable Care Act. After Congress voted to zero out the individual mandate’s tax penalty in 2017, 20 states moved to challenge the law on the basis that the mandate no longer is a tax—undoing the key argument that Chief Justice … [Read more...] about Health Reform Must Energize State Engagement