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Trump’s Remarkable Turn To Single-Player

Hospitals struggling to treat waves of very sick people now face a new threat: millions of uninsured Americans pounding at their gates. How can the hospitals afford to treat them, even if they have the beds? The obvious response was for President Donald Trump to open early enrollment in the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace. The 11 states that control their own Obamacare exchanges had already done that (rather than make people wait seven months for the official sign-in period). Insurers, providers and many Republicans expected Trump to take that step. But surprise: President ...

Is Pandemic Killing Biden’s Bid?

“This is the question that is going to dominate the election: How did you perform in the great crisis?” So says GOP Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma in today’s New York Times. GOP National Committeeman Henry Barbour of Mississippi calls the crisis “a defining moment... The more (Trump) reassures Americans, gives them the facts and delivers results, the harder it will be for Joe Biden.” Indeed, it is not a stretch to say Trump’s presidency will stand or fall on the resolution of the coronavirus crisis and how Trump is perceived as having led us in that battle. Recent ...

What Is The Best Case Scenario?

Faced with the greatest public health threat in a century, we are stumbling in the dark. Each day’s death toll is treated as a shock, rather than what it ought to be — a fire bell in the night. Only on April 1, for example, did Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issue a stay-at-home order. As recently as March 28 — even as refrigerator trucks were parking outside New York hospitals to serve as overflow morgues — many of Florida’s beaches were packed. Responding to criticism, DeSantis said he was taking cues from the White House. “If any of those task force folks tell me that we ...

Taking Rights Seriously

“If the provisions of the Constitution be not upheld when they pinch as well as when they comfort, they may as well be abandoned.” — Justice George Sutherland (1862-1942) In his 2008 book “Taking Rights Seriously,” the late professor Ronald Dworkin explored the origins and governmental treatment of human liberty. He argued that Thomas Jefferson — who wrote the Declaration of Independence — and James Madison — the scrivener at the Constitutional Convention and the author of the Bill of Rights — were clear in their articulations that the premise of America at its birth ...

‘Tis The Age Of Weird We Are In

We will have to come up with a name for these times. I nominate “Weird”. The Age of Weird. Everywhere you turn you find weird. I wish we could print that name in crazy colors. Within a fringe of black, for mourning. I started on a novel a few years ago. But set it aside. Because the story was too implausible. By the middle of the tale, the plot had most of the people on earth fixated on one thing. It was a noise, a sort of buzz that everyone heard. Nah. Didn’t work. Because, well, it was too weird. It was chin-deep in science fiction. It was asking readers to believe something ...

Does Medicare Cover Me If I Get COVID-19?

Question: How does Medicare cover me if I get sick from COVID-19? Answer: COVID-19 has changed our daily lives so quickly in so many ways. It is my hope that you are isolating yourself from physical contact with people outside those that you live with. This does not mean being isolated completely. You can still call people on the phone. Talk to your neighbors while outside and standing apart from one another. Also using FaceTime, Skype and similar social media tools to see those you cannot see in person. Original Medicare gives you excellent Health Insurance all the time. Medicare ...