Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Aid Is Only Option For Jobless As Federal Unemployment Benefits Expire
The New York Times: Unemployment Benefits Expire For Millions Without Pushback From Biden
Expanded unemployment benefits that have kept millions of Americans afloat during the pandemic expired on Monday, setting up an abrupt cutoff of assistance to 7.5 million people as the Delta variant rattles the pandemic recovery. The end of the aid came without objection from President Biden and his top economic advisers, who have become caught in a political fight over the benefits and are now banking on other federal help and an autumn pickup in hiring to keep vulnerable families from foreclosure and food lines. (Tankersley and Casselman, 9/6)
AP: Jobless Americans Will Have Few Options As Benefits Expire
Millions of jobless Americans lost their unemployment benefits on Monday, leaving only a handful of economic support programs for those who are still being hit financially by the year-and-a-half-old coronavirus pandemic. Two critical programs expired on Monday. One provided jobless aid to self-employed and gig workers and another provided benefits to those who have been unemployed more than six months. Further, the Biden administration’s $300 weekly supplemental unemployment benefit also ran out on Monday. It’s estimated that roughly 8.9 million Americans will lose all or some of these benefits. (9/7)
Politico: Why The White House Loves The Texas Renter Rescue
In the race to dole out billions of dollars in federal rental aid, Texas has emerged as the Biden administration’s unexpected poster child for how to make sure money reaches struggling tenants, outpacing blue states such as New York that have stronger eviction protections. Republican-led, landlord-friendly Texas has distributed more assistance funds from Washington’s $46.5 billion rental aid program than any other state, according to Treasury Department data through the end of July. It has disbursed at least $616 million — accounting for 47 percent of its initial batch of rent relief from Washington — with some major cities and counties distributing more than 90 percent of their own allocations. (O'Donnell, 9/4)
CIDRAP: Study: Lifting State Eviction Bans Puts Residents At Risk For COVID
A study yesterday in JAMA Network Open reveals that adult residents of US states that lifted COVID-19 eviction moratoria were at increased risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection 5 to 12 weeks later, compared with residents of states where the bans were still in place. (Van Beusekom, 8/31)
In related news about covid's economic toll —
The New York Times: From Cradle To Grave, Democrats Move To Expand Social Safety Net
When congressional committees meet this week to begin formally drafting Democrats’ ambitious social policy plan, they will be undertaking the most significant expansion of the nation’s safety net since the war on poverty in the 1960s, devising legislation that would touch virtually every American’s life, from conception to aged infirmity. Passage of the bill, which could spend as much as $3.5 trillion over the next decade, is anything but certain. President Biden, who has staked much of his domestic legacy on the measure’s enactment, will need the vote of every single Democrat in the Senate, and virtually every one in the House, to secure it. And with two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, saying they would not accept such a costly plan, it will challenge Democratic unity like nothing has since the Affordable Care Act. (Weisman, 9/6)
