Newsletter

President-elect Joe Biden proposed a massive $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package in a speech last night, urging Congress to quickly approve $1,400 per-person direct payments and funding for testing and vaccine distribution. With ultra-narrow Democratic margins in both the House and Senate, whether such a huge expenditure is needed hopefully will at least be debated at a time when … [Read more...] about The Dreaded Masks

2020 was awful, and we rang in 2021 with hopes we would put the pandemic, riots, and economic shock behind us.  Who thought 2021 could be worse!   Like many of you, I am in despair over this week’s calamities.  We will soon turn to sorting through the policy consequences to try to chart a positive path forward, but in the meantime, I want to share with you a few … [Read more...] about A dreadful beginning

As we near a blessed close to 2020, all of us at the Galen Institute wish you and the world a better 2021. Reflecting on this unprecedented year, our first thoughts and prayers go to those who have lost loved ones to Covid and to those who have suffered and even died in tragic isolation from family and friends. I lost my mother in 2017 and often wonder how on earth she would have survived such … [Read more...] about Counting our Blessings

Is there a magic wand—one thing that the government could do to control the Covid pandemic and help us safely return to work and school? Yesterday’s approval by an FDA-panel of Pfizer’s miraculously rapid development and production of its Covid-19 vaccine is vital. “This is a triumph,” wrote Dr. Eric Rubin, a Harvard immunologist in the New England Journal of Medicine, where he is … [Read more...] about Rapid testing now!

You can imagine our delight when the lead editorial in The Wall Street Journal on Monday gave a timely nod to the Consensus Group’s Health Care Choices 20/20 proposal.   Entitled “Can Republicans Regroup on Health Care?” the editorial wonders, “How many elections will the party lose before coming up with a potent political argument on health care? “For all the Republican successes in Senate and … [Read more...] about A Welcome Boost

We awoke to terrific news this morning that Pfizer is asking the FDA for an emergency use permit to begin distributing its Covid-19 vaccine, a Godsend to help fight the pandemic. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech will be the first companies to seek authorization for a coronavirus vaccine in the United States. Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said this is a “light … [Read more...] about Progress!

Republican candidates were pummeled with ads during their campaigns this fall, with opponents warning of the the dark and foreboding consequences of “stripping health coverage away from millions of people” who also would lose their pre-existing condition protections if the latest challenge to Obamacare were to succeed.  The issue was front and center in Senate confirmation … [Read more...] about So Much For That

We will continue to advance patient freedom in health care, whatever outcome the election eventually produces.  Our newly released Health Care Choices 2020 proposal contains a wealth of recommendations—many of which could garner bipartisan support—to do just that. American Action Forum president Doug Holtz-Eakin wrote in his daily newsletter this week that  the Consensus … [Read more...] about Next Steps