health policy

Obesity remains a health problem for individuals, and collectively as a public health issue. The war against obesity, like that against drugs, has been waged for many years without significant change. A new study looks at why policy has so little effect.
The new Biden Administration has a full plate. Here are the science, technology, and health policies it should prioritize.
The governor of Washington State has canceled Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, and about 20% of Seattle's restaurants and bars have closed permanently. The governor's arbitrary policies, such as banning indoor dining while allowing customers to eat inside tents, deserve part of the blame. Photographs put the absurdity on stark display.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has canceled Thanksgiving as part of a new COVID lockdown. The Grinch of Whoville couldn't have created a better policy.
Incompetence, waffling, moving the goalposts, disregarding unintended consequences, and being political have hurt Americans' confidence in their public health institutions.
The risk to students of reopening schools is quite small. For instance, more young adults aged 15-24 will drown than die from coronavirus. The challenge for re-opening schools is the risk posed to teachers, staff, and students' families.
Strict lockdowns might work in some countries, but they aren't going to work everywhere. Americans, in particular, reject such restrictions on liberty, which is why a strict lockdown is sort of like abstinence-only sex education.
The FDA’s rigorous oversight – rather than a race to satisfy an aggressive agenda – is imperative during this pandemic.
Universal healthcare, which is touted as a solution to all of America's healthcare woes, is not necessarily a cure. Universal healthcare can be universally bad, as it is in Poland.
Infectious disease models can also describe riots. The spread of coronavirus and violent protests share many features in common, shedding at least some light on the coming summer of discontent.
The COVID-19 lockdown is responsible for both the loss of economic activity and human lives. Two independent groups of researchers concluded that the lockdown may be costing more lives than it saves.
Somewhere along the way, our achievable goal of "flattening the curve" for COVID-19 has mutated into "finding a cure," which is perhaps an impossible one. Public health and economic policy must be based on reality, not starry-eyed wish-making. Otherwise, people's lives and livelihoods are in grave danger.