Health Care

The Last COVID Bill and the Next

At the end of last month, President Donald J Trump signed into law a $908 billion relief package in the larger omnibus budget legislation. Still, the President-elect has indicated they would be seeking additional help for a country devastated by a pandemic that is trending toward more than 400,000 to over a half million fatalities

The Final Days: Death and Devastation

On January 20, 2021, President Trump’s term will come to an end. It ends a long way from what now seems like the almost halcyon days of April when Mr. Trump predicted that we would keep coronavirus deaths to 60,000 deaths and substantially below 100,000. According to Johns Hopkins, 72,261 people died in December alone, with a one-day record

CR Likely Extended as Talks Continue, Relief Package Still In-Play

Members and staff continued to work on a final FY 2021 appropriations omnibus package that will cover all 12 appropriations bills. They continue to make progress, but it is increasingly likely that they will need another short-term continuing resolution (CR) to finalize the package. The current CR funding expires on December 11, 2020. It seems

GAO Finds Urgent Action Needed in Pandemic

Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a 460-page report highlighting a range of urgent needs to address during this pandemic. The report, Urgent Actions Needed to Better Ensure an Effective Federal Response, summarized:  The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in catastrophic loss of life and substantial damage to the global economy, stability, and security. According to federal

Supreme Court Hears Affordable Care Act Case

On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, the Supreme Court considered another significant case with national policy implications for the second week in a roll when they considered challenges to the Affordable Care Act. The concern of supporters of the ACA, including CWLA, is that the Court could strike down the entire law as requested by the

320,000 More Children Lose Health Care Coverage

According to a new report by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, the number of uninsured children grew by 320,000 in 2019 to a total of 4.4 million children. The report, Children’s Uninsured Rate Rises by Largest Annual Jump in More Than a Decade, finds that since the start of the Trump Administration, 726,000 children have

COVID-19 Ripple Effect in New York on Children

The United Hospital Fund collaborated with Boston Consulting Group on the new report, COVID-19 Ripple Effect: The Impact of COVID-19 on Children in New York State, that showed that 4,200 children in New York State have lost a parent to COVID-19 between March and July of this year. In addition, 325,000 children were pushed into or

CDC See Increased Drug Overdose Fatalities Due to Cocaine and Fentanyl

U.S. deaths from overdoses of cocaine totaled 14,666 in 2018, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of overdose deaths remained stable from 2009 through 2013, the report found, but then headed upward at about 27 percent each year from 2013 through 2018. Approximately 80% of overdose deaths

Mixed Signals from President, Clear Signal from Federal Reserve, Next COVID Package?

Last week on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told members of the National Association for Business Economics that there needs to be more stimulus, telling members, “Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses.” Shortly after giving a boost to the discussions that

2017 CBO Report On The Impact of ACA Repeal

In early 2017, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis, How Repealing Portions of the Affordable Care Act Would Affect Health Insurance Coverage and Premiums that detailed the impact of an ACA repeal. The report suggested a dramatic impact on people if the law is repealed without a replacement—a real prospect if the Supreme Court agrees

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