While Covid-19 vaccines have been “free” to everyone, Medicare’s overall vaccine policy is haphazard at best. In a new paper, Galen Senior Fellow Doug Badger examines Medicare’s “balkanized” coverage of preventive vaccines. He asks: “Should Medicare Eliminate Cost Sharing for Preventive Vaccines?” Badger explains the current confusion: “Medicare Part B … [Read more...] about Analyzing Medicare Vaccine Policy
Quick Takes
We will divert a bit from our usual newsletter format focusing on a single issue to give you quick summaries and links to several important issues on our radar screen. Here goes: * Natural immunity endures: To follow up on our newsletter from last week about the strength of natural immunity, Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins and co-authors report in their new study in … [Read more...] about Quick Takes
Listen to the Doctors
Dr. Marty Makary has been a voice of clarity and sanity in the Covid pandemic response, and his latest piece in The Wall Street Journal may be his most important yet. He writes in “The High Cost of Disparaging Natural Immunity to Covid” that “Public-health officials ruined many lives by insisting that workers with natural immunity to Covid-19 be fired if they weren’t fully … [Read more...] about Listen to the Doctors
Convoluted, Costly Covid Test Plan — Doug Badger in The Daily Signal
Biden’s COVID-19 Tests Plan: Too Little, Too Late | By Doug Badger | The Daily Signal, Jan. 25, 2020 President Joe Biden has a new plan on rapid, at-home COVID-19 testing, but as with much of his administration’s pandemic policy, the plan is convoluted, costly, and late. Making affordable, rapid at-home tests widely available empowers people to learn their COVID-19 status. Instead … [Read more...] about Convoluted, Costly Covid Test Plan — Doug Badger in The Daily Signal
A Failing Grade
A year out, the Biden administration’s health policy agenda is on life support, both with its Covid response and overall agenda. While there are many externalities that Washington can’t control, the main failures are mis-management, politicization, and pushing ideas far outside the mainstream. Paul Mango, who has written a book about the Trump administration’s widely-praised … [Read more...] about A Failing Grade
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Good: Yes, we should celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday that OSHA does not have the power to force employers to force 84 million Americans who work for them to get Covid vaccines. But the decision is on narrow grounds, and it didn’t protect 10 million other Americans. The court’s decision involving the Biden administration’s employer vaccine mandate … [Read more...] about The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Priorities
Independent physician practices have been under attack for decades, with government using its payment and regulatory powers to exert control. Today, more and more physicians are being forced to sell their practices to hospitals or join mega-practice groups to survive. Others sadly close shop. A 2020 survey by The Physicians Foundation found that 12% of all U.S. doctors … [Read more...] about Priorities
The OSHA Vaccine Mandate: Legal, Practical, and Economic Considerations
By Paul Larkin, Jr., and Doug Badger | The Heritage Foundation, December 2021 | Legal and policy experts Paul Larkin and Doug Badger argue in a paper for The Heritage Foundation that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) lacks the authority from Congress to issue a general vaccine mandate. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Friday regarding a … [Read more...] about The OSHA Vaccine Mandate: Legal, Practical, and Economic Considerations