Health Care
Commentary
Moderna COVID vaccine gets key endorsement — vaccinations are safe and will end pandemic
The vote Thursday by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel to recommend an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is an important and welcome step in our battle to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccinations are now underway with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. People will begin received inoculations of the ...
Commentary
Vaccine Documentation Will Be Important But A Hodgepodge
By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and John J. Cohrssen Few could have imagined a year ago that by now our world would be so profoundly changed by a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans; been confirmed in over 16 million; gone undiagnosed in scores of millions more; ...
Commentary
Flattening The Curve Is More Important Than Ever.
Public Health And Economic Growth Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin Vaccination of high-risk groups against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has begun in earnest – and not a moment too soon because the trends in the United States are moving in the wrong direction. On December 13, records ...
Blog
California’s Scandal-Plagued Unemployment Agency
The number of Californians certified for unemployment insurance is now at 1.6 million compared to October last year before the pandemic, when just 260,000 Californians received unemployment checks. Going into the holidays, a heart-breaking one in 10 Californians are unemployed. Even more anguishing, the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD), the ...
Blog
Memo to Newsom and Garcetti: Try Leveling with Californians for a Change
Last week, local and state officials announced new, severe restrictions as officials grapple with rising cases of Covid-19 and rapidly-filling hospital emergency rooms nearing capacity. Especially during a public health crisis like this one, it is very important for government officials to be very clear in the information they are ...
Drug Pricing
NEW BRIEF: Tearing Down Drug ‘Rebate Walls’ Would Save Patients, Improve Health Care Outcomes
Tearing down drug “rebate walls” that increase patient costs and block access to cheaper and often more effective medications would increase competition, lower out-of-pocket costs, and improve health outcomes, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click ...
Blog
Heroes Act Gave Millions to California’s Poshest Cities
Coronavirus relief funds are back on the negotiation table, but the three sides have a huge chasm to close. Speaker Nancy Pelosi originally proposed a $3.4 trillion package, then $2.2 trillion, and has now settled on $900 billion. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin bargained down further to $1.9 trillion, followed by ...
Commentary
For HHS post Biden taps ObamaCare’s lead defender – don’t expect him to be a moderate
President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services. It’s a conventional, if unexpected, pick. The Washington rumor mill had New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as the front-runners to lead HHS until ...
Commentary
A Tale Of Two Healthcare Systems
The United States just reached an all-time high of over 100,000 coronavirus hospitalizations. Over 1,000 hospitals are critically short-staffed; about three-quarters of all hospital beds are full. Some hospitals have stopped accepting new patients. In Idaho, St. Luke’s Magic Valley Hospital turned away patients seeking emergency care last month. Just a few weeks later, ...
Commentary
An overly cautious FDA costs lives by not hastening vaccine authorization
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel is set to meet on Thursday to consider an emergency use authorization, or EUA, for the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and German company BioNTech. Despite newly reported deaths nationwide topping a thousand per day, the FDA doesn’t seem to have been in ...
Moderna COVID vaccine gets key endorsement — vaccinations are safe and will end pandemic
The vote Thursday by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel to recommend an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is an important and welcome step in our battle to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccinations are now underway with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. People will begin received inoculations of the ...
Vaccine Documentation Will Be Important But A Hodgepodge
By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and John J. Cohrssen Few could have imagined a year ago that by now our world would be so profoundly changed by a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans; been confirmed in over 16 million; gone undiagnosed in scores of millions more; ...
Flattening The Curve Is More Important Than Ever.
Public Health And Economic Growth Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin Vaccination of high-risk groups against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has begun in earnest – and not a moment too soon because the trends in the United States are moving in the wrong direction. On December 13, records ...
California’s Scandal-Plagued Unemployment Agency
The number of Californians certified for unemployment insurance is now at 1.6 million compared to October last year before the pandemic, when just 260,000 Californians received unemployment checks. Going into the holidays, a heart-breaking one in 10 Californians are unemployed. Even more anguishing, the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD), the ...
Memo to Newsom and Garcetti: Try Leveling with Californians for a Change
Last week, local and state officials announced new, severe restrictions as officials grapple with rising cases of Covid-19 and rapidly-filling hospital emergency rooms nearing capacity. Especially during a public health crisis like this one, it is very important for government officials to be very clear in the information they are ...
NEW BRIEF: Tearing Down Drug ‘Rebate Walls’ Would Save Patients, Improve Health Care Outcomes
Tearing down drug “rebate walls” that increase patient costs and block access to cheaper and often more effective medications would increase competition, lower out-of-pocket costs, and improve health outcomes, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click ...
Heroes Act Gave Millions to California’s Poshest Cities
Coronavirus relief funds are back on the negotiation table, but the three sides have a huge chasm to close. Speaker Nancy Pelosi originally proposed a $3.4 trillion package, then $2.2 trillion, and has now settled on $900 billion. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin bargained down further to $1.9 trillion, followed by ...
For HHS post Biden taps ObamaCare’s lead defender – don’t expect him to be a moderate
President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services. It’s a conventional, if unexpected, pick. The Washington rumor mill had New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as the front-runners to lead HHS until ...
A Tale Of Two Healthcare Systems
The United States just reached an all-time high of over 100,000 coronavirus hospitalizations. Over 1,000 hospitals are critically short-staffed; about three-quarters of all hospital beds are full. Some hospitals have stopped accepting new patients. In Idaho, St. Luke’s Magic Valley Hospital turned away patients seeking emergency care last month. Just a few weeks later, ...
An overly cautious FDA costs lives by not hastening vaccine authorization
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel is set to meet on Thursday to consider an emergency use authorization, or EUA, for the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and German company BioNTech. Despite newly reported deaths nationwide topping a thousand per day, the FDA doesn’t seem to have been in ...
