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DECEMBER

**21, 2021**

Dayen on TAP

White House Reverses Course on At-Home COVID Tests

It's amazing what you can do when you just govern.

****

A couple of weeks ago, NPR's Mara Liasson asked

in a White House press briefing why the U.S. wasn't just sending out
COVID test kits to every American. "Should we just send one to every
American?" press secretary Jen Psaki sniffed derisively.

Today, the White House announced a plan

to send COVID test kits to every American.

So yes, outrage does have its place, I think we can say. Psaki was
really pilloried for her comments, and the backlash caused a shift in
posture.

The initial plan to have insurance companies reimburse for the purchase
of over-the-counter tests was ill-considered. Nobody should be subjected
to the hassle of insurance reimbursement over a $25 two-pack of test
kits. And the problem was availability, in addition to cost: Nobody can
find a drugstore that has any tests in stock.

The plan goes beyond sending a couple of kits to people at home,
however. New federal testing sites will be set up across the country to
expand capacity. And the administration is promising "a website where
Americans can go to get at-home tests delivered to their home-for
free." To ensure adequate supply, the White House is invoking the
Defense Production Act to increase manufacturing of the tests.

There's more to do here. The biggest thing would be to increase the
approved tests in the U.S. beyond just the two that happen to be
produced by the former companies of the one guy

at the FDA who's the main bottleneck on approvals. Flooding the market
with tests could have solved this problem a while ago. If a test is
available and being used in Europe, it ought to be approved for use
here.

But there are a lot of takeaways from the administration's reversal.
First, they can be embarrassed into doing the right thing, especially
when the right thing is so obvious and clear. Second, they can set up
enduring, public systems that are the first step to dealing with COVID
on an ongoing basis as it becomes endemic. This is the step to calming
the panic that proceeds every outbreak, with systems in place to deal
with them.

But the third and most important lesson is that presidents can govern. I
note the absence of Joe Manchin from any of these announcements over
tests. The White House had authority to come up with a better way to
make sure everyone who needs tests can get them. The first attempt was
terrible; they learned and came up with a better one. They had all of
the authority to do so. And so they did it.

It's a good concept
!

~ DAVID DAYEN

Follow David Dayen on Twitter

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Now Can We Try the Day One Agenda?

With Joe Manchin pulling the string on Biden's signature legislation,
it's past time for him to use his own authority to make progress.
BY DAVID DAYEN

Flying Blind

The fatal fragmentation of private information in the global supply
chain system BY ROBERT KUTTNER

Why Democrats Need Unions More Than Ever

A new study makes clear how union members voted substantially more
Democratic in 2020 than their non-union counterparts. BY HAROLD
MEYERSON

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