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Not solely does the Trump administration lack a complete plan for addressing the continuing coronavirus pandemic, it spent a lot of the previous week working to undercut one of many nation’s most trusted scientists, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Reporters got “opposition research” noting instances when Fauci was allegedly fallacious in regards to the course of the pandemic, and Peter Navarro, a commerce adviser to President Donald Trump, revealed an op-ed in USA Today attacking Fauci personally.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court might not hear the case difficult the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act earlier than the November elections, though its existence is prone to function fodder for Democrats up and down the poll.
And decrease courts have been lively on the reproductive well being entrance for the reason that excessive court docket declined to completely train its anti-abortion majority. Federal judges in Tennessee and Georgia blocked abortion bans, whereas one in Maryland blocked an administration rule requiring insurance coverage firms that promote plans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges to ship prospects a separate invoice for abortion protection whether it is provided.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Erin Mershon of Stat News.
Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
Despite rosy pronouncements by federal officers that testing efforts within the nation are progressing properly, many states nonetheless report issues getting provides they want, and delays in getting take a look at outcomes are making contact tracing all however inconceivable. The testing issues create main hurdles to opening colleges on time, as testing and phone tracing have been stipulations to open colleges safely. Researchers are complaining that the Trump administration’s resolution to have hospitals report their coronavirus knowledge to HHS, as an alternative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, might make it troublesome for them to review facets of the outbreak. Groups that oppose abortion see efforts by Chief Justice John Roberts to reasonable selections this yr as a sign he might not be receptive to their arguments to overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationally. The probability to get yet another conservative on the court docket to interchange one of many present liberals might impress extra assist for President Donald Trump’s reelection marketing campaign. On the problem of abortion, House Democrats stunned some individuals by retaining the Hyde Amendment — which outlaws federal spending for abortions in practically all instances — within the HHS appropriations invoice. That was possible an effort to guard weak Democrats in conservative districts.
Plus, for further credit score, the panelists suggest their favourite well being coverage tales of the week they assume you must learn, too:
Julie Rovner: The New Yorker’s “How Trump Is Helping Tycoons Exploit the Pandemic,” by Jane Mayer
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The New York Times Magazine’s “Why We’re Losing the Battle With Covid-19,” by Jeneen Interlandi
Erin Mershon: The New York Times’ “Bottleneck for U.S. Coronavirus Response: The Fax Machine,” by Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz
Paige Winfield Cunningham: Politico’s “Inspector General: Medicare Chief Broke Rules on Her Publicity Contracts,” by Dan Diamond and Adam Cancryn
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