COVID vaccines can give economy a needed shot in the arm once essential workers vaccinated

Fox News | Sally C. Pipes
December 29, 2020

Any vaccination program should prioritize individuals who are critical to getting our economy humming again. So in addition to health care workers, we really should be moving teachers and other essential service workers to the front or near the front of the queue. Protocols for distributing the COVID-19 vaccines were always going to ruffle feathers. 

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The illogical California lockdown orders

San Francisco Chronicle | Sally C. Pipes
December 28, 2020

So for a few more weeks — at least — most Californians won’t be able to engage in a wide range of activities, from indoor and outdoor dining and worship services to overnight camping in state parks. Many cities and counties have imposed their own restrictions on top of the state’s.

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Why Joe Biden must keep Donald Trump’s short-term health plans in place

The Detroit News | Sally C. Pipes
December 28, 2020

Understandably, lots of people found cheaper short-term plans more appealing than exchange plans. That wasn’t terribly popular with the Obama administration, which wanted everyone in the exchanges Obamacare created. So in October 2016, three months before leaving office, then-President Barack Obama limited the maximum duration of a short-term plan to three months. No longer could people use such plans as viable alternatives to exchange coverage.

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Americans are getting a good return on their healthcare spending

The Washington Examiner | Sally C. Pipes
December 29, 2020

Hospital care and physician and clinical services accounted for over 50% of spending. Spending in those two categories grew at a slightly faster rate in 2019 than in 2018. But CMS noted that “nonprice factors such as the use and intensity of services” were key contributors to that steeper growth rate.

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