BREAKING: Medical groups including @acog@AmerMedicalAssn write to Biden urging him to allow telemedicine abortions during the pandemic and to reverse the Trump admin rules requiring people to pick up the pills in person. drive.google.com/file/d/1y2aMB0…
@acog@AmerMedicalAssn Progressive lawmakers have also been pushing the admin to loosen the regulations. With a legal case pending in federal court over the FDA's rules for abortion pills, the Biden admin will soon be forced to take a position. politico.com/news/2021/02/0…
@acog@AmerMedicalAssn Mifepristone has been approved by the FDA for decades, and people can take the pills at home. But they're still required to *pick them up* in person from a medical provider, even during the pandemic when the FDA has allowed dispensing by mail for most other drugs.
@acog@AmerMedicalAssn While the current legal battle is over the dispensing rules during Covid, a larger battle is looming. Conservatives want the drugs banned entirely and progressives want the rules eased permanently so people can obtain the pills by mail even after the pandemic.
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NEW: The Senate parliamentarian just ruled that COBRA subsidies to cover the private health insurance premiums of laid off workers can stay in the Covid bill.
@RonWyden: "Workers who have been laid off need affordable health care for their families now more than ever."
@RonWyden Some labor groups, including @unitehere, are lobbying the Senate to increase the subsidies from 85% to 100% of premiums, arguing that even 15% of the cost of these expensive plans is more than unemployed people can afford.
@RonWyden@unitehere Progressive lawmakers have argued that instead of using COBRA to subsidize private insurance, the bill could have instead auto-enrolled laid off people in Medicare or Medicaid for much, much less. But they're still supporting this bill.
Senate Republicans' $618 billion counter-offer to Biden's $1.9 trillion plan contains similar amounts for testing and vaccines, but just a small fraction of the money Biden requested for helping schools reopen collins.senate.gov/sites/default/…
One member of the GOP group going to the White House to meet with Biden today, Bill Cassidy, has questioned whether schools need any extra money at all -- pointing to private/religious schools that have already reopened. politico.com/newsletters/po…
Also not included in the GOP plan: Biden's pitch to create a 100,000 person public health corps to help staff vaccination sites, conduct testing, etc. When it was intro'd as a standalone bill last year, several Republicans including Cassidy cosponsored collins.senate.gov/sites/default/…
My parents in Southern California received their first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine (literal tears of joy!) but they were not given an appointment for their 2nd doses because the state is unsure there will be adequate supply. (Knot of dread in the pit of my stomach!)
The pharmacy won't even contact them to offer an appointment and there aren't any currently available in the 4-week window for the Moderna shot. They were advised to just keep calling every single day and hope something opens up. This is...a terrible system.
My parents have so many advantages compared to other Angelenos. They are not frontline workers. They can stay safe at home while they wait. They have phones and computers they can use to keep checking for appointments. What are less privileged people over 65 supposed to do?
Trump, Biden, Schumer & other top DC leaders aren't rushing to be first in line for the vaccine amid concerns about the ethics of cutting the line in front of health workers. But with national security at stake, the pressure is building. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
This morning, Fauci said Trump, Pence, Biden and Harris should get the shot as soon as possible. Because the shots come in 2 doses 3 weeks apart, they would have to get them soon in order to be fully protected in time for the inauguration. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
While some lawmakers are declaring they'll wait until health workers and nursing home residents are vaccinated before requesting the shots themselves, others are pushing for a plan to quickly vaccinate Congress members and staff. politico.com/f/?id=00000176…
NEW: Top officials in the White House, the Pentagon and Congress are navigating an ethical minefield as they begin to be offered early access to the Covid-19 vaccine. Should get the shot now to set a good example, or will that look like cutting the line? politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
As much as officials want to send the message that the vaccine is safe and be protected themselves, they're very sensitive to the optics at play.
"I don’t think that power or privilege or money should ever be a factor in who gets the vaccine first" @RepRaulRuizMD told me.
Lawmakers don't yet know when they will have access to the vaccine, but some are already declaring that they plan to wait their turn.
“I will not skip the line,” @SenSchumer said Monday.
Today is the day the Supreme Court debates the fate of the Affordable Care Act. Coverage for tens of millions of people is on the line. Arguments begin at 10am. politico.com/news/2020/11/0…
California's solicitor general opens by arguing that Obamacare's zero-dollar penalty for not buying insurance "doesn't harm anyone and it doesn't violate the Constitution." c-span.org/video/?471185-…
Oh wow, Clarence Thomas, who *never* talks during oral arguments, compares the Obamacare's individual mandate to face mask mandates during Covid, says that even if they carry no penalty they can have a "chilling effect."