Commentary

Coronavirus Stimulus Would Barely Cover Medicare for All

June 14, 2020

The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has prompted the biggest spending spree in American history. The House of Representatives just passed an additional relief package worth $3 trillion. That's on top of $2.2 trillion in spending that Congress and the president green-lit in...

COVID-19 Reveals The Power Of Deregulation

June 09, 2020

Healthcare

One of the most effective policy responses to COVID-19 thus far has not been a new government program or infusion of federal funding. Rather, it's been the deliberate effort by the Trump administration to pare back regulations impeding access to health care. That work must continue...

Governor Newsom’s Medi-Cal Proposal Betrays California’s Poor

June 08, 2020

Healthcare

Governor Gavin Newsom just unveiled a new budget proposal aimed at digging California out of a $54 billion deficit brought on by the pandemic. He hopes to slash Medi-Cal payments to healthcare providers and use the money to enroll more people in the program. This week, the Democrat-led...

Coronavirus lockdown — How many harmed by disruption to routine medical care?

June 08, 2020

With states in the initial stages of reopening their economies, early research seems to indicate that the stay-at-home orders may not have had as much impact on the spread of COVID-19 as the conventional wisdom held. We may be on the cusp of a different "mass casualty incident," a group...

Newsom: Police And Firefighters Will Be Laid Off But We’ll Spend Millions To Enforce AB5

June 05, 2020

California

Gov. Gavin Newsom is leveraging the state’s $54.3 billion budget deficit. Give us what we want, he demands, or public safety programs will be cut. At the same time, he wants $20 million to enforce Assembly Bill 5, maybe the most damaging piece of legislation that...

Attempt to overthrow Proposition 209 ignores K-12’s responsibility

June 04, 2020

While Californians are focused on surviving the COVID-19 lockdown, some state legislators are using the crisis as cover for a stealth effort to overturn Proposition 209, the 1996 voter-passed initiative that prevents government discrimination based on race and other classifications. Not only has this effort...

The coronavirus recession is no excuse for Medicaid expansion

June 01, 2020

House Democrats are looking to funnel billions of dollars into state Medicaid programs through the HEROES Act, which narrowly passed the lower chamber in mid-May. The $45 billion they're promising may sound like a godsend to states staring at huge budget deficits in the wake of the recession caused by the...

Metadata Meets COVID-19

May 28, 2020

Healthcare

By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Andrew I. Fillat ‘Metadata” might sound like something that “Star Trek‘s” Spock would oversee, but it is real and increasingly familiar, as the result of stories about wiretaps and security. The easiest-to-understand example of it is information about the time,...

Smoothing the Bumpy Road to Reopening

May 27, 2020

By Henry I. Miller and Andrew Fillat Every day seems to bring some new, unexpected, unpleasant revelation about the SARS-CoV-2 and the illness it causes, COVID-19. The infection has a long, often asymptomatic incubation period, high transmissibility, the ability to infect many human tissues, and, frequently, rapid...

Colorado Gets A Reprieve From The Public Option. All Americans Should Be So Lucky.

May 26, 2020

Healthcare

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Colorado lawmakers have shelved their plan to overhaul the state's healthcare system and implement a public health insurance option. Coloradans should count their blessings—for now, at least. The proposed "Colorado Option" would have curtailed access to quality care, particularly in rural areas. Even as Colorado's...