Wednesday, May 26, 2021

SCOTUS still has to decide a big ACA case

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On November 10, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument ( recording , transcript ) in the two cases that will again decide the fate of t...
Tuesday, May 25, 2021

COVID-19 at the Intersection of Criminal Justice Reform and Public Health

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Interesting new piece is Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) : "Carceral-community epidemiology, structural racism, ...
Monday, May 24, 2021

Texas Blows it Again on Medicaid Expansion

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Health Affairs  has posted a nice summary of the Biden Administration's attempt to entice the hold-out states to expand Medicaid pursuan...
Tuesday, May 11, 2021

"What Has President Biden Done in Health Care Coverage in His First 100 Days?"

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There is a new Commonwealth Fund report by Tim Jost and Mark Regan looks at executive orders, legislation, and litigation in the Biden Admi...
Tuesday, March 23, 2021

AstraZeneca in Major Dispute with U.S. Regulators

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Anthony Fauci's Institute -- the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) -- issued a mind-blowing statement today...
Monday, March 22, 2021

Medicaid Expansion in Texas: The Time is Now

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The Legislature is back in session. A bill has been introduced to authorize Texas to accept the federal government's offer to pay for 90...
Monday, March 08, 2021

CDC's Guidance for "Fully Vaccinated People"

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The guidance was issued earlier today, and you can read the whole document here . Meanwhile, here are the highlights: Key Points This is the...
Thursday, March 04, 2021

Free Webinar: Pres. Biden's First 100 Days of Health Policy

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This looks like a good webinar: Boston University's Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights faculty discuss the first 100 days ...
Tuesday, March 02, 2021

"Governor Abbott Lifts Mask Mandate, Opens Texas 100 Percent" [source: Governor's website]

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Yes, it's true. Governor Abbott (along with the Governor of Mississippi ) has earned the title "Worst Public Health Decision Maker ...
Sunday, February 21, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccination and Ethics: Stanford/AJOB Webinar

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The American Journal of Bioethics  and Stanford's Center for Biomedical Ethics (David Magnus & Bela Fishbeyn) on Feb. 16 put on an e...
Saturday, February 20, 2021

Medicaid in Times of Crisis: A GAO Report (2 pp.)

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It's short but sweet. The Government Accountability Office has issued  GAO-21-343SP (02-17-2021), a nifty description and analysis of t...
Thursday, February 18, 2021

COVID Vaccine and Health Equity: We have a long way to go

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From Kaiser Health News (2/18/2021): KFF has an updated analysis of state-reported data as of February 16, 2021 on COVID-19 vaccinations, c...
Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Planned Parenthood, Medicaid Expansion, and Women's Health

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We here in Texas are used to having Medicaid weaponized in all sorts of ways. Refusing federal dollars to fund eligibility expansion is a pa...
Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Medicaid Expansion: Biden's COVID Relief Proposal Includes a Cash Sweetener for Texas and 11 Other Holdouts

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As reported by The Washington Post (02/16/21), the 5,593-page COVID relief bill supported by the Biden Administration contains a provision...
Friday, February 12, 2021

Welcome to the Wacky World of Hospital Pricing Practices

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Today's Wall Street Journal  (02-12-21) has a good piece on the incredible range of charged prices for hospital services. We are accust...
Thursday, February 11, 2021

Biden Administration Reverses Trump's Position on ACA SCOTUS Litigation

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No surprise here. Siding with Texas and other red-state AGs in their attempt to get the entire Affordable Care Act tossed was inconceivable....
Wednesday, January 27, 2021

"HHS Misused Millions of Dollars Intended for Vaccine Research, Emergency Preparedness" (HHS Special Counsel Report, 1/27/21)

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  This is distressing, both because the practice of siphoning these funds away from their intended use thwarts the intent of congressional a...
Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Beyond the Health Policy "Iron Triangle" of Cost, Quality, and Access"

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  There's a new article that builds on our experience with pandemic response to make the case for increasing emphasis upon health justic...

Expect state and local governments to re-impose more severe restrictions over the next few month

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News from the COVI-19 front -- which is to say nearly everywhere -- is bad and getting worse. It took about 4 months for COV)D-related death...
Sunday, January 17, 2021

Lana Del Rey's eerie, conspiracy-laden music video and the death of Phil Spector

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It's a pretty tune -- "Chemtrails Over the Country Club" -- accompanied by  a spooky video  with an apocalyptic conclusion to ...