Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement A secretive Trump administration project that enlists private companies to bring masks and other medical equipment to the U.S. to fight the coronavirus outbreak has provided tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to the nation’s largest medical-supply companies with little public accounting. Over the last three weeks, taxpayers have paid to fly the companies’ supplies to the U.S. from Asia on government-chartered cargo flights, while the firms have been free to sell the material to hospitals, clinics and others at prices...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement A secretive Trump administration project that enlists private companies to bring masks and other medical equipment to the U.S. to fight the coronavirus outbreak has provided tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to the nation’s largest medical-supply companies with little public accounting. Over the last three weeks, taxpayers have paid to fly the companies’ supplies to the U.S. from Asia on government-chartered cargo flights, while the firms have been free to sell the material to hospitals, clinics and others at prices...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Six weeks after the president and other senior officials promised that any American would soon be able to get a test for coronavirus, testing continues to lag, prompting an escalating call from leading medical centers, lawmakers and others for the administration to put in place a coordinated national strategy.Effective testing is considered essential before state and local governments can lift restrictions on Americans’ movements, reopening schools and businesses and allowing the nation’s faltering economy to recover. But multiple,...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Six weeks after the president and other senior officials promised that any American would soon be able to get a test for coronavirus, testing continues to lag, prompting an escalating call from leading medical centers, lawmakers and others for the administration to put in place a coordinated national strategy.Effective testing is considered essential before state and local governments can lift restrictions on Americans’ movements, reopening schools and businesses and allowing the nation’s faltering economy to recover. But multiple,...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Although President Trump has directed states and hospitals to secure what supplies they can, the federal government is quietly seizing orders, leaving medical providers across the country in the dark about where the material is going and how they can get what they need to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.Hospital and clinic officials in seven states described the seizures in interviews over the past week. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is not publicly reporting the acquisitions, despite the outlay of millions of dollars of...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Although President Trump has directed states and hospitals to secure what supplies they can, the federal government is quietly seizing orders, leaving medical providers across the country in the dark about where the material is going and how they can get what they need to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.Hospital and clinic officials in seven states described the seizures in interviews over the past week. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is not publicly reporting the acquisitions, despite the outlay of millions of dollars of...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Facing mounting pleas from California and other states, the Trump administration moved Friday to allow states to use Medicaid more freely to respond to the coronavirus crisis and expand access to medical services.President Trump’s emergency declaration may clear the way for states to more quickly enroll low-income Americans in Medicaid so they can get necessary testing or treatment if they are exposed to the virus, as several states have wanted to do since early in the crisis.His move also could speed efforts by states to bring on...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Facing mounting pleas from California and other states, the Trump administration moved Friday to allow states to use Medicaid more freely to respond to the coronavirus crisis and expand access to medical services.President Trump’s emergency declaration may clear the way for states to more quickly enroll low-income Americans in Medicaid so they can get necessary testing or treatment if they are exposed to the virus, as several states have wanted to do since early in the crisis.His move also could speed efforts by states to bring on...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Weak environmental protections, safety rules and labor and civil rights protections may be cutting lives short in conservative states and deepening the divide between red and blue states, according to a new study on links between life expectancy and state policy.The report, published Tuesday in the health policy journal Milbank Quarterly, finds that states where residents live longest, including California, tend to have much more stringent environmental laws, tougher tobacco and firearms regulations and more protections for workers,...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Weak environmental protections, safety rules and labor and civil rights protections may be cutting lives short in conservative states and deepening the divide between red and blue states, according to a new study on links between life expectancy and state policy.The report, published Tuesday in the health policy journal Milbank Quarterly, finds that states where residents live longest, including California, tend to have much more stringent environmental laws, tougher tobacco and firearms regulations and more protections for workers,...WW…

When Democrats pushed through a two-year expansion of the Affordable Care Act in the covid-relief bill this month, many people celebrated the part that will make health insurance more affordable for more Americans.This story also ran on . It can beBut health care researchers consider this move a short-term fix for a long-term crisis, one that avoids confronting an uncomfortable truth: The only clear path to expanding health insurance remains yet more government subsidies for commercial health plans, which are the most costly form of coverage.The reliance on private plans — a hard-fought...…When Democrats pushed through a two-year expansion of the Affordable Care Act in the covid-relief bill this month, many people celebrated the part that will make health insurance more affordable for more Americans.This story also ran on . It can beBut health care researchers consider this move a short-term fix for a long-term crisis, one that avoids confronting an uncomfortable truth: The only clear path to expanding health insurance remains yet more government subsidies for commercial health plans, which are the most costly form of coverage.The reliance on private plans — a hard-fought...WW…

The COVID Relief Bill Expands The Affordable Care Act. It Doesn't Come Cheap : Shots - Health News The $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill expands subsidies for private insurance plans. That will lighten the burden on consumers, but it locks taxpayers into yet more support for the health care industry.Noam N. LeveyFromWhen Democrats pushed through a two-year in the COVID-19 relief bill this month, many people celebrated the part that will make health insurance more affordable for more Americans. But some health care researchers consider this move a short-term fix for a long-term crisis, one...…The COVID Relief Bill Expands The Affordable Care Act. It Doesn't Come Cheap : Shots - Health News The $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill expands subsidies for private insurance plans. That will lighten the burden on consumers, but it locks taxpayers into yet more support for the health care industry.Noam N. LeveyFromWhen Democrats pushed through a two-year in the COVID-19 relief bill this month, many people celebrated the part that will make health insurance more affordable for more Americans. But some health care researchers consider this move a short-term fix for a long-term crisis, one...WW…

This story also ran on . It can beAs President Joe Biden works to overhaul U.S. health care policy, few challenges loom larger for his health secretary than restoring access to family planning while parrying legal challenges to abortion proliferating across the country.Physicians, clinics and women’s health advocates are looking to Xavier Becerra, Biden’s nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, to help swiftly unwind Trump-era funding cuts and rules that decimated the nation’s network of reproductive health providers over the past four years.But Becerra, who as...…This story also ran on . It can beAs President Joe Biden works to overhaul U.S. health care policy, few challenges loom larger for his health secretary than restoring access to family planning while parrying legal challenges to abortion proliferating across the country.Physicians, clinics and women’s health advocates are looking to Xavier Becerra, Biden’s nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, to help swiftly unwind Trump-era funding cuts and rules that decimated the nation’s network of reproductive health providers over the past four years.But Becerra, who as...WW…

This story also ran on  and GateHouse Media. It can bePresident Joe Biden has an unexpected opening to cut deals with red states to expand Medicaid, raising the prospect that the new administration could extend health protections to millions of uninsured Americans and reach a goal that has eluded Democrats for a decade.The opportunity emerges as the covid-19 pandemic saps state budgets and strains safety nets. That may help break the Medicaid deadlock in some of the 12 states that have rejected federal funding made available by the Affordable Care Act, health officials, patient...…This story also ran on  and GateHouse Media. It can bePresident Joe Biden has an unexpected opening to cut deals with red states to expand Medicaid, raising the prospect that the new administration could extend health protections to millions of uninsured Americans and reach a goal that has eluded Democrats for a decade.The opportunity emerges as the covid-19 pandemic saps state budgets and strains safety nets. That may help break the Medicaid deadlock in some of the 12 states that have rejected federal funding made available by the Affordable Care Act, health officials, patient...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement As President-elect Joe Biden labors to rescue the nation’s ragged coronavirus response, no challenge looms larger than rallying Republicans and Democrats behind a unified effort to wear masks and take other basic steps to control the pandemic.Months of political disputes over face coverings, social distancing and other public health interventions have turned even the simplest precautions into partisan minefields.And relentless attacks by President Trump and his allies have sapped trust in public health leaders and institutions such...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement As President-elect Joe Biden labors to rescue the nation’s ragged coronavirus response, no challenge looms larger than rallying Republicans and Democrats behind a unified effort to wear masks and take other basic steps to control the pandemic.Months of political disputes over face coverings, social distancing and other public health interventions have turned even the simplest precautions into partisan minefields.And relentless attacks by President Trump and his allies have sapped trust in public health leaders and institutions such...WW…