Podcasts about human services secretary alex azar

Taliban spokesman says they have drawn a red line in the sand and more on today's CrossPolitic Daily News Brief This is Toby Sumpter. Today is Tuesday, August 24, 2021. CREC Issues Religious Exemption Statement & Sample Letter https://crechurches.org/documents/statements/PMOC-CREC_Religious-Exemption-Statement.pdf Standing in the ancient Christian tradition, committed to the doctrinal standards of our local and denominational constitutions and the supremacy of the Holy Scriptures, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) affirms our religion's principles of liberty of conscience, honoring and preserving human life from conception to natural death, as well as the sovereignty of individuals and families in medical and healthcare decision-making.  Therefore, we state our unequivocal support for the right of refusal of mandatory medical procedures, whether ordered by a branch of civil government, an employer, or any other institution to which an individual is subject or dependent – in the event that an individual sincerely believes his or her life, health, wellbeing, or morality is potentially threatened by such procedures or products, or in the event that a parent has the same concern for his or her child.  We affirm that our Christian religion protects the liberty of individuals and families to refuse any medical procedure or product on the basis of sincerely held concerns for known or unknown side effects, experimental or emergency uses, potential involvement in fetal cell lines whether in development or testing, or medical and/or political corruption or coercion.  Therefore, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we defend the rights and responsibilities of our members to research these issues in consultation with their medical providers in order to make responsible medical decisions for themselves, including refusing vaccination or gene therapies on religious grounds. And we hereby call upon all governments, schools, employers, and other institutions to respect these deeply held religious convictions by upholding this religious liberty and/or providing religious exemptions as requested.  On Behalf of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches  There's an attached sample letter that can be personalized by a pastor to be written on behalf of parishioners for schools or employers. "Next, I want to tell our homeschool listeners about Classy Artist Box. It is a company created by a Christian art teacher who sends you everything you need to create four art projects each month. You can use their written instructions and video lessons to help guide you through each project. In addition to the four new projects each month, you'll also have access to two and a half years worth of video lessons to enjoy as a member. Each type of subscription will cover a range of art media throughout the year, which means you have your art curricular needs covered. For 30% off of your first subscription order, use code CROSS30. To see more, check out www.ClassyArtistBox.com.  Infrastructure Bill Back in the House With Senators  https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/23/sinema-35t-spending-bill-506583 From Politico: Kyrsten Sinema still opposes her party's plans for a $3.5 trillion, party-line spending bill. And she's not up for a negotiation about it. As House Democratic leaders hold back Sinema's own Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill in order to push the Arizona Democrat and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to support a multitrillion-dollar spending bill, Sinema is making it crystal clear that her mind can't be changed. And that applies even as her own legislation becomes a bargaining chip in House Democrats' internal discussions. The $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill “is a historic win for our nation's everyday families and employers and, like every proposal, should be considered on its own merits,” said Sinema spokesperson John LaBombard. “Proceedings in the U.S. House will have no impact on Kyrsten's views about what is best for our country - including the fact that she will not support a budget reconciliation bill that costs $3.5 trillion.” It's the latest entrenched position from the first-term moderate, whose resistance to changing the Senate's filibuster rules and to supporting a $3.5 trillion spending bill is enraging progressives. Sinema and Manchin both helped pass Democrats' budget earlier this month, setting up that gargantuan spending bill, but both are resistant to a social spending package that ultimately meets its $3.5 trillion top line mark. Sinema in particular specifically opposes that spending goal, which was devised by Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Senate Democrats need all 50 of their members, including Manchin and Sinema, to pass a filibuster-proof reconciliation spending bill. On Sunday Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her members were still pursuing a bill that costs $3.5 trillion, but are hoping to finance it in part with tax enforcement and tax increases on the wealthy and corporations. Meanwhile, moderates in Pelosi's caucus are declining to back the Senate-passed budget unless Pelosi puts Sinema's Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill up for a vote on the House floor. In statement shortly after Sinema's, Manchin leaned on Pelosi and House leaders to act now on the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill instead of waiting for the Senate to pass a massive spending bill. "It would send a terrible message to the American people if this bipartisan bill is held hostage. I urge my colleagues in the House to move swiftly to get this once in a generation legislation to the President's desk for his signature," Manchin said. Jake Sherman on Twitter: In closed dem meeting, @SpeakerPelosi and @RepKClark are making the case that a vote against the rule that sets up budget vote would be a vote against female priorities — and a vote against women of color. “Women are watching to see what is happening here,” Pelosi said Kyrsten Sinema is also watching, but I doubt she counts as far as Pelosi is concerned.  Jake Sherman was Reporting from the House late Monday on Twitter suggesting that there would be an attempt to pass a rule concerning the debate on the infrastructure bill that could include language that would “deem” the bipartisan bill approved.  Politics of Sex Conference Play Audio Biden Announces FDA Approval of Pfizer COVID Vaccine https://twitter.com/breaking911/status/1429872489019084802?s=21 Play Audio But Pfizer & the FDA Have Sovereign Immunity https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/16/covid-vaccine-side-effects-compensation-lawsuit.html From CNBC on December 23rd: If you experience severe side effects after getting a Covid vaccine, lawyers tell CNBC there is basically no one to blame in a U.S. court of law.  The federal government has granted companies like Pfizer and Moderna immunity from liability if something unintentionally goes wrong with their vaccines. “It is very rare for a blanket immunity law to be passed,” said Rogge Dunn, a Dallas labor and employment attorney. “Pharmaceutical companies typically aren't offered much liability protection under the law.“ You also can't sue the Food and Drug Administration for authorizing a vaccine for emergency use, nor can you hold your employer accountable if they mandate inoculation as a condition of employment. Congress created a fund specifically to help cover lost wages and out-of-pocket medical expenses for people who have been irreparably harmed by a “covered countermeasure,” such as a vaccine. But it is difficult to use and rarely pays. Attorneys say it has compensated less than 6% of the claims filed in the last decade In February, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act. The 2005 law empowers the HHS secretary to provide legal protection to companies making or distributing critical medical supplies, such as vaccines and treatments, unless there's “willful misconduct” by the company. The protection lasts until 2024. That means that for the next four years, these companies “cannot be sued for money damages in court” over injuries related to the administration or use of products to treat or protect against Covid.  HHS declined CNBC's request for an interview. Dunn thinks a big reason for the unprecedented protection has to do with the expedited timeline.  “When the government said, ‘We want you to develop this four or five times faster than you normally do,' most likely the manufacturers said to the government, ‘We want you, the government, to protect us from multimillion-dollar lawsuits,'” said Dunn.  The quickest vaccine ever developed was for mumps. It took four years and was licensed in 1967. Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine was developed and cleared for emergency use in eight months — a fact that has fueled public mistrust of the coronavirus inoculation in the U.S. But drugmakers like Pfizer continue to reassure the public no shortcuts were taken. “This is a vaccine that was developed without cutting corners,” CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said in an interview with CNBC's “Squawk Box” on Monday. “This is a vaccine that is getting approved by all authorities in the world. That should say something.” The legal immunity granted to pharmaceutical companies doesn't just guard them against lawsuits. Dunn said it helps lower the cost of the immunizations. “The government doesn't want people suing the companies making the Covid vaccine. Because then, the manufacturers would probably charge the government a higher price per person per dose,” Dunn explained.  Pfizer and Moderna did not return CNBC's request for comment on their legal protections. Is anyone liable? Remember, vaccine manufacturers aren't the ones approving their product for mass distribution. That is the job of the FDA. Which begs the question, can you sue the U.S. government if you have an extraordinarily bad reaction to a vaccine? Again, the answer is no.  “You can't sue the FDA for approving or disapproving a drug,” said Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law. “That's part of its sovereign immunity.” Sovereign immunity came from the king, explains Dunn, referring to British law before the American Revolution. “You couldn't sue the king. So, America has sovereign immunity, and even each state has sovereign immunity.” There are limited exceptions, but Dunn said he doesn't think they provide a viable legal path to hold the federal government responsible for a Covid vaccine injury. Taliban says they are drawing a red line https://news.sky.com/story/afghanistan-taliban-warns-there-will-be-consequences-if-biden-delays-withdrawal-of-us-troops-12388436 Play Audio: 0:00-0:49 Secretary of State Blinken Says America Will Be Asking Taliban Permission https://twitter.com/TrumpStudents/status/1429874831407915015?s=20 Play Audio: 0:00-0:36 Psalm of the Day: To the Word – Isaiah 8 Play Audio Remember you can always find the links to our news stories and these psalms at crosspolitic dot com – just click on the daily news brief and follow the links.  This is Toby Sumpter with Crosspolitic News. You can find this and all of our shows at Crosspolitic.com or on our app, which you can download at your favorite app store, just search “Fight Laugh Feast”. A reminder: if you see news stories and links that you think we should cover on the daily news brief, please send them to news @ crosspolitic.com and don't forget to check deft wire dot com where we are constantly posting all our stories.  04Support Rowdy Christian media, and share this show or become a Fight Laugh Feast Club Member. You always get a free Fight Laugh Feast t-shirt with a membership and remember if you didn't make it to the Fight Laugh Feast Conference or Rally, club members have access to all the talks and lots more. Join today and have a great day.

Taliban spokesman says they have drawn a red line in the sand and more on today's CrossPolitic Daily News Brief This is Toby Sumpter. Today is Tuesday, August 24, 2021. CREC Issues Religious Exemption Statement & Sample Letter https://crechurches.org/documents/statements/PMOC-CREC_Religious-Exemption-Statement.pdf Standing in the ancient Christian tradition, committed to the doctrinal standards of our local and denominational constitutions and the supremacy of the Holy Scriptures, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) affirms our religion's principles of liberty of conscience, honoring and preserving human life from conception to natural death, as well as the sovereignty of individuals and families in medical and healthcare decision-making. Therefore, we state our unequivocal support for the right of refusal of mandatory medical procedures, whether ordered by a branch of civil government, an employer, or any other institution to which an individual is subject or dependent – in the event that an individual sincerely believes his or her life, health, wellbeing, or morality is potentially threatened by such procedures or products, or in the event that a parent has the same concern for his or her child. We affirm that our Christian religion protects the liberty of individuals and families to refuse any medical procedure or product on the basis of sincerely held concerns for known or unknown side effects, experimental or emergency uses, potential involvement in fetal cell lines whether in development or testing, or medical and/or political corruption or coercion. Therefore, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we defend the rights and responsibilities of our members to research these issues in consultation with their medical providers in order to make responsible medical decisions for themselves, including refusing vaccination or gene therapies on religious grounds. And we hereby call upon all governments, schools, employers, and other institutions to respect these deeply held religious convictions by upholding this religious liberty and/or providing religious exemptions as requested. On Behalf of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches There's an attached sample letter that can be personalized by a pastor to be written on behalf of parishioners for schools or employers. "Next, I want to tell our homeschool listeners about Classy Artist Box. It is a company created by a Christian art teacher who sends you everything you need to create four art projects each month. You can use their written instructions and video lessons to help guide you through each project. In addition to the four new projects each month, you'll also have access to two and a half years worth of video lessons to enjoy as a member. Each type of subscription will cover a range of art media throughout the year, which means you have your art curricular needs covered. For 30% off of your first subscription order, use code CROSS30. To see more, check out www.ClassyArtistBox.com. Infrastructure Bill Back in the House With Senators https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/23/sinema-35t-spending-bill-506583 From Politico: Kyrsten Sinema still opposes her party's plans for a $3.5 trillion, party-line spending bill. And she's not up for a negotiation about it. As House Democratic leaders hold back Sinema's own Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill in order to push the Arizona Democrat and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to support a multitrillion-dollar spending bill, Sinema is making it crystal clear that her mind can't be changed. And that applies even as her own legislation becomes a bargaining chip in House Democrats' internal discussions. The $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill “is a historic win for our nation's everyday families and employers and, like every proposal, should be considered on its own merits,” said Sinema spokesperson John LaBombard. “Proceedings in the U.S. House will have no impact on Kyrsten's views about what is best for our country - including the fact that she will not support a budget reconciliation bill that costs $3.5 trillion.” It's the latest entrenched position from the first-term moderate, whose resistance to changing the Senate's filibuster rules and to supporting a $3.5 trillion spending bill is enraging progressives. Sinema and Manchin both helped pass Democrats' budget earlier this month, setting up that gargantuan spending bill, but both are resistant to a social spending package that ultimately meets its $3.5 trillion top line mark. Sinema in particular specifically opposes that spending goal, which was devised by Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Senate Democrats need all 50 of their members, including Manchin and Sinema, to pass a filibuster-proof reconciliation spending bill. On Sunday Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her members were still pursuing a bill that costs $3.5 trillion, but are hoping to finance it in part with tax enforcement and tax increases on the wealthy and corporations. Meanwhile, moderates in Pelosi's caucus are declining to back the Senate-passed budget unless Pelosi puts Sinema's Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill up for a vote on the House floor. In statement shortly after Sinema's, Manchin leaned on Pelosi and House leaders to act now on the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill instead of waiting for the Senate to pass a massive spending bill. "It would send a terrible message to the American people if this bipartisan bill is held hostage. I urge my colleagues in the House to move swiftly to get this once in a generation legislation to the President's desk for his signature," Manchin said. Jake Sherman on Twitter: In closed dem meeting, @SpeakerPelosi and @RepKClark are making the case that a vote against the rule that sets up budget vote would be a vote against female priorities — and a vote against women of color. “Women are watching to see what is happening here,” Pelosi said Kyrsten Sinema is also watching, but I doubt she counts as far as Pelosi is concerned. Jake Sherman was Reporting from the House late Monday on Twitter suggesting that there would be an attempt to pass a rule concerning the debate on the infrastructure bill that could include language that would “deem” the bipartisan bill approved. Politics of Sex Conference Play Audio Biden Announces FDA Approval of Pfizer COVID Vaccine https://twitter.com/breaking911/status/1429872489019084802?s=21 Play Audio But Pfizer & the FDA Have Sovereign Immunity https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/16/covid-vaccine-side-effects-compensation-lawsuit.html From CNBC on December 23rd: If you experience severe side effects after getting a Covid vaccine, lawyers tell CNBC there is basically no one to blame in a U.S. court of law. The federal government has granted companies like Pfizer and Moderna immunity from liability if something unintentionally goes wrong with their vaccines. “It is very rare for a blanket immunity law to be passed,” said Rogge Dunn, a Dallas labor and employment attorney. “Pharmaceutical companies typically aren't offered much liability protection under the law.“ You also can't sue the Food and Drug Administration for authorizing a vaccine for emergency use, nor can you hold your employer accountable if they mandate inoculation as a condition of employment. Congress created a fund specifically to help cover lost wages and out-of-pocket medical expenses for people who have been irreparably harmed by a “covered countermeasure,” such as a vaccine. But it is difficult to use and rarely pays. Attorneys say it has compensated less than 6% of the claims filed in the last decade In February, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act. The 2005 law empowers the HHS secretary to provide legal protection to companies making or distributing critical medical supplies, such as vaccines and treatments, unless there's “willful misconduct” by the company. The protection lasts until 2024. That means that for the next four years, these companies “cannot be sued for money damages in court” over injuries related to the administration or use of products to treat or protect against Covid. HHS declined CNBC's request for an interview. Dunn thinks a big reason for the unprecedented protection has to do with the expedited timeline. “When the government said, ‘We want you to develop this four or five times faster than you normally do,' most likely the manufacturers said to the government, ‘We want you, the government, to protect us from multimillion-dollar lawsuits,'” said Dunn. The quickest vaccine ever developed was for mumps. It took four years and was licensed in 1967. Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine was developed and cleared for emergency use in eight months — a fact that has fueled public mistrust of the coronavirus inoculation in the U.S. But drugmakers like Pfizer continue to reassure the public no shortcuts were taken. “This is a vaccine that was developed without cutting corners,” CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said in an interview with CNBC's “Squawk Box” on Monday. “This is a vaccine that is getting approved by all authorities in the world. That should say something.” The legal immunity granted to pharmaceutical companies doesn't just guard them against lawsuits. Dunn said it helps lower the cost of the immunizations. “The government doesn't want people suing the companies making the Covid vaccine. Because then, the manufacturers would probably charge the government a higher price per person per dose,” Dunn explained. Pfizer and Moderna did not return CNBC's request for comment on their legal protections. Remember, vaccine manufacturers aren't the ones approving their product for mass distribution. That is the job of the FDA. Which begs the question, can you sue the U.S. government if you have an extraordinarily bad reaction to a vaccine? Again, the answer is no. “You can't sue the FDA for approving or disapproving a drug,” said Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law. “That's part of its sovereign immunity.” Sovereign immunity came from the king, explains Dunn, referring to British law before the American Revolution. “You couldn't sue the king. So, America has sovereign immunity, and even each state has sovereign immunity.” There are limited exceptions, but Dunn said he doesn't think they provide a viable legal path to hold the federal government responsible for a Covid vaccine injury. Taliban says they are drawing a red line https://news.sky.com/story/afghanistan-taliban-warns-there-will-be-consequences-if-biden-delays-withdrawal-of-us-troops-12388436 Play Audio: 0:00-0:49 Secretary of State Blinken Says America Will Be Asking Taliban Permission https://twitter.com/TrumpStudents/status/1429874831407915015?s=20 Play Audio: 0:00-0:36 Psalm of the Day: To the Word – Isaiah 8 Play Audio Remember you can always find the links to our news stories and these psalms at crosspolitic dot com – just click on the daily news brief and follow the links. This is Toby Sumpter with Crosspolitic News. You can find this and all of our shows at Crosspolitic.com or on our app, which you can download at your favorite app store, just search “Fight Laugh Feast”. A reminder: if you see news stories and links that you think we should cover on the daily news brief, please send them to news @ crosspolitic.com and don't forget to check deft wire dot com where we are constantly posting all our stories. 04Support Rowdy Christian media, and share this show or become a Fight Laugh Feast Club Member. You always get a free Fight Laugh Feast t-shirt with a membership and remember if you didn't make it to the Fight Laugh Feast Conference or Rally, club members have access to all the talks and lots more. Join today and have a great day.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar submits letter of resignation, plans to stay until Jan. 20 President Donald Trump's "actions and rhetoric" have tarnished the administration's legacy, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a resignation letter submitted this week. Azar submitted the standard resignation letter for a Cabinet secretary to offer an outgoing president, dated January 12 and obtained by CNN Friday. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hnn24x7/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hnn24x7/support

How Did A Vaccine Get Developed In Less Than A Year? From the first discovery of a strange new respiratory virus in Wuhan, China, in January of 2020, it took less than a year to get a vaccine into the arms of frontline healthcare workers. More than two dozen vaccine candidates have made it from basic safety trials to Phase 3, where efficacy against COVID-19 is tested. That’s particularly remarkable as before the pandemic, it was rare for a vaccine to take fewer than 5 years from start to finish. The extraordinary speed of these critical developments is thanks to decades and decades of previous work, including research on the original SARS virus, and even HIV. Ira talks to two researchers who have contributed to COVID-19 vaccines about the foundations these innovations rest on, and how increased resources and collaboration helped save time in 2020. How COVID-19's Vaccine Development Will Benefit Future Vaccines For months, much of the world’s attention has been on COVID-19 vaccines—people want to know when they will come, how well will they work, and when can I get one?  Fortunately, the pharmaceutical industry has rapidly developed and tested multiple vaccines for SARS-CoV2. Now, the discovery that two vaccines based on messenger RNA technology have over 94% efficacy is drawing attention to new ways to think about vaccines. We’ve come a long way from the days of the inactivated poliovirus vaccine used by Salk, or the attenuated virus vaccines developed by Sabin. Ira talks to vaccine researcher Paul Duprex and biotech reporter Ryan Cross about how these new developments improve our ability to fight infectious disease, and looks ahead to where the future of vaccine development might lie. West Virginia Leads In Race To Distribute Vaccines Healthcare workers have had mixed success getting COVID-19 vaccines into people’s arms across the U.S. A big reason for the unequal rollout is the lack of federal requirements for who gets vaccinated, and in what order. There are, however, federal recommendations—for example, this week Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar recommended that vaccination strategies should prioritize people age 65 and older. But states are on their own when it comes to distribution, resulting in 50 different plans. One of the states with the highest percentages of residents vaccinated for COVID-19 is West Virginia. Though it’s predominantly rural, the state’s high population of elderly people has resulted in a large-scale, largely successful effort to reach its residents. New York state, on the other hand, has been less successful. Bureaucratic infighting between state and city officials delayed vaccination, and many residents eligible for vaccination are turning down the opportunity, citing concerns about safety. Joining Ira to talk about COVID-19 vaccine distribution are Fred Mogul, health and government reporter for New York Public Radio in New York City and Dave Mistich, senior reporter at West Virginia Public Broadcasting in Morgantown.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, speaking to the Heritage Foundation Thursday, said that it was Taiwan that gave us the first indication there was new, worrisome disease emerging from China. Taiwan is not a member of the WHO and is sometimes a point of contention between the United States and China. FOX’s Eben Brown speaks to Dean Cheng, Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, about Secretary Azar's comments and what they mean for our relations with both Taiwan and China.  

(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is asking states to speed delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to people 65 and older and to others at high risk by no longer holding back the second dose of the two-dose shots, officials said Tuesday. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that “the administration in the states has been too narrowly focused.

In November 2020, there was an Executive Order entitled “Lowering Prices for Patients by Eliminating Kickbacks to Middlemen.” And we had HHS (US Department of Health and Human Services) Secretary Alex Azar and the HHS Office of Inspector General finalizing a regulation to eliminate the current system of drug rebates in Med D (Medicare Part D). And what they were trying to do is create incentives to reduce out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs by delivering discounts directly at the pharmacy counter to patients. Those discounts delivered at the pharmacy counter? Not insignificant. In 2019, Part D rebates totaled $39.8 billion. The new rule stipulates that federal spending can’t be increased as a result of this action. But in summary, it’s pretty much a reboot of the same ruling from earlier last year. Here’s a couple of points: The rule is only for Medicare (Med D)—Medicaid and commercial aren’t included—but … there’s a but, and we get into that in this episode. Also, the start date for this ruling is 1/1/22 if it continues to stand in the new administration, which is a big if. What was at stake the first time this rule was drawn up by HHS and is likely still at stake is the implementation flowchart. Who exactly is involved in adjudicating these “potential discounts for patients at the pharmacy counter”? Since any middleman who gets themselves involved in anything takes a buck, there is a massive land grab, if you think about it, that if any middleman can grab a buck, this could be a lot of money. So, the first time this HHS proposal was presented in 2019, I talked to AJ Loiacono, who’s the CEO over at Capital Rx. I have to say I was a little over-cocky relative to how well I really understood the hidden machinations behind pharmacy Rxs being adjudicated, and AJ does an amazing job explaining it. This is incredibly relevant as we contemplate potentially who gets a piece of the action moving forward. But regardless of, in some respects, what happens with this HHS rule, I found it interesting and valuable to understand what exactly happens in the dark messy middle, maybe underbelly, of a pharmacy adjudication. You can learn more at cap-rx.com. Anthony J. “AJ” Loiacono is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in pharmacy benefits and software development. As the CEO of Capital Rx, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) that is bringing transparency and fair pricing into an otherwise opaque industry, his mission is to change the way prescriptions are priced and administered to create enduring social change. AJ spent his career studying the pharmaceutical supply chain and producing engineering solutions that have continually redefined the pharmacy benefit industry. At its core, Capital Rx is a technology-first company that has received multiple awards for the innovations that have propelled the company to record growth (Accenture Health Technology Champion, AMCP Gold Ribbon, EHIR Innovation Award, NYC Digital 100, etc). Prior to Capital Rx, AJ was a co-founder of Truveris, where he served for eight years as CEO, CIO, and board member, leading the company to rapid expansion (Deloitte Fast 500 and Crain’s Fast 50). Before Truveris, AJ co-founded SMS Partners, a joint venture with Realogy (RLGY), and in 2010 exited the partnership with a buyout. In his first venture, AJ started Victrix, a pharmaceutical supply chain consultancy, and successfully sold the company to Chrysalis Solutions in 2007. 03:03 HHS’s plan to remove safe harbor from the rebates that Pharma pays to PBMs to buy their way onto formularies. 03:13 Creating more transparency by eliminating the anti-kickback. 03:58 What the anti-rebates process flowchart looks like. 04:20 Changing the term from “rebate” to “charge-back.” 04:25 Charge-back at the point of sale rather than post-adjudication. 04:37 How putting the pharmacy in the middle of the transaction changes everything. 05:36 “From a cash flow perspective, this matters.”—Stacey 07:18 “Who is in charge of this payment workflow?” 09:25 “Why the switch?” 10:56 The potential players in the role of paying pharmacies: PBMs, wholesalers, the switches (McKesson), banks/fintech, government contractors. 12:04 The likelihood that this will spill over into commercial medicine. 14:11 Why PBMs want to maintain the status quo, and how that works. 15:44 “Where there’s variability, there’s variable profitability.” 17:28 How do you check that the patient is getting the charge-back amount they deserve? 18:28 Is it still possible to pay to be on a PBM’s formulary? 19:16 Can you ever get away from the pay-to-play formulary? 22:31 “If you think about it, who’s writing the checks at the end of the day?” 22:59 What questions should employers be asking right now? 25:20 The problem with implementing HHS’s primary goal. 30:51 “Really what we should be focusing on is, ‘What are we solving for?’” 32:26 Capital Rx and what they do. You can learn more at cap-rx.com. What’s @HHSGov’s new plan revolving around the #rebates that #pharma pays to #PBMs? AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg Creating more #transparency by eliminating the anti-kickback. AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg What would the anti-rebates process look like? AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg Changing the term from #rebate to #chargeback. AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg Changing the point at which the #chargeback occurs and how this changes the status quo. AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg Why putting the #pharmacy in the middle of the transaction changes everything. AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg “From a cash flow perspective, this matters.” AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg “Who is in charge of this payment workflow?” AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg Why #PBMs, #wholesalers, #switches (McKesson), #banks/#fintech, and #governmentcontractors could all potentially pay the #pharmacy. AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg What’s the likelihood that this will spill over into the commercial side of things? AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg Why do #PBMs want to maintain the status quo? AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg “Where there’s variability, there’s variable profitability.” AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx explains in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg Can we ever get away from the #paytoplay #formulary? AJ Loiacono of @cap_rx discusses in our newest #podcast episode. #healthcare #healthtech #digitalhealth #healthcarepodcast #hcmkg

In today's News: Virginia Christians oppose new law  Churches, ministries, schools and Christian-owned businesses from across the state of Virginia signed an open letter to Gov. Ralph Northam and members of the Virginia General Assembly that urges them not to force religious citizens to violate their beliefs under the so-called “Virginia Values Act.” The law, enacted July 1, on its face compels churches, religious schools and Christian ministries to hire employees who do not share their stated beliefs on marriage, sexuality and gender identity — or face fines of up to $100,000 for each violation. A companion law requires the ministries and other Christian nonprofits and Christian-owned businesses to include in employee health care plans coverage for “sex reassignment” and “gender affirming” surgeries that run contrary to their beliefs. It also prohibits the ministries from offering sex-specific sports, classes for parenting and Christian discipleship, if those programs are based on biological sex.  Medicaid money withheld from California  Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced that his department was taking action against California and a hospital in Vermont that implemented policies violating the conscience rights of those opposed to abortion. Azar was among many notable speakers at a White House event, called “Life Is Winning: Celebrating 4 Years of Pro-Life Accomplishments,” hosted by Vice President Mike Pence Wednesday. During his speech, Azar highlighted how the Trump administration was “protecting conscience rights more aggressively than any previous administration in history." He went on to announce that $200 million in federal Medicaid funds would be withheld from California for the first quarter of 2021 due to the state's refusal to amend its policy "imposing universal abortion coverage mandates on health insurance."  Pro-abortion Representative to Biden’s Cabinet  A New Mexico Congresswoman who was accused of defaming young, pro-life teenagers at the march for life is President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for Secretary of the Interior. The Hill reports Biden nominated U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, a pro-abortion Democrat, to join his Cabinet this week. Haaland has a 100-percent pro-abortion voting record, according to the National Right to Life Committee. Her votes include opposing "The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act," which would protect newborn babies from infanticide. Haaland was sued for defamation in 2019 after she trashed pro-life teenager Nick Sandmann and other high school students who were attending the March for Life, the Los Alamos Monitor reports.  D.C. mayor backs off Christmas restrictions  Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has eased restrictions on houses of worship following a lawsuit by the Catholic Church accusing the Democrat of “arbitrary” and “discriminatory” restrictions on churches ahead of Christmas. In a lawsuit filed Dec. 11, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington said Bowser’s restrictions “bear no relation to either the size of the building or the safety of the activity” and “single out religious worship as a disfavored activity, even though it has been proven safer than many other activities the district favors.” Bowser modified the city’s attendance limits in a Wednesday order, removing the 50-person limit for religious gatherings and instead capping places of worship at 25 percent capacity with a maximum of 250 people. 

As the U.S. works to ensure efficient and effective vaccine distribution, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar urges Americans to remain cautious while they hope for a healthier future. Officials are recommending pared down holiday celebrations, and the first round of vaccine recipients are lining up to get--and showcase--the jab. Plus, the dealmaker behind the Viacom-CBS merger, Verizon’s purchase of Yahoo!, and the Snap IPO has unveiled his expectations for mergers and acquisitions in 2021. LionTree’s Aryeh Bourkoff shares his projections for media, media deals, and SPACs in the year to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A major snowstorm rolled into the Northeast on Wednesday at a key moment in the coronavirus pandemic, days after the start of the U.S. vaccination campaign and in the thick of a virus surge that has throngs of people seeking tests per day.Snow was falling from northern Virginia to points north of New York City by late afternoon. The storm was poised to drop as much as 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow in some places by Thursday, and the pandemic added new complexities to officials' preparations — deciding whether to close testing sites, figuring out how to handle plowing amid outdoor dining platforms in New York City streets, redefining school snow days to mean another day of learning from home, and more.“Our theme today ought to be, ‘If it’s not one thing, it’s another,’” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said as he gave residents storm guidance that's new this year — mask up if you help your neighbors shovel.Still, officials said they didn't expect the winter blast to disrupt vaccine distribution, which began Monday for frontline health care workers, the first group of Americans to get the shots. The first 3 million shots are being strictly limited to those workers and to nursing home residents.U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday that the government is tracking the vaccine shipments precisely, has staffers already in place to receive them and believes the companies transporting them can navigate the storm.“This is FedEx, this is UPS express shipping. They know how to deal with snow and bad weather. But we are on it and following it," he told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.”With 35 vaccine deliveries to New Jersey hospitals expected over the next day or two, Murphy said his administration was focused on making sure they continued, including by exempting vaccine delivery trucks from a storm-related prohibition on commercial traffic on some highways. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his state's first-round vaccine shipment had already been distributed to some 90 hospitals, with the next delivery not due until roughly Tuesday, well after the storm.The National Weather Service said the storm was “set to bring an overabundance of hazards from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast,” including freezing rain and ice in the mid-Atlantic, heavy snow in the New York City area and southern New England, strong winds and coastal flooding, and possibly even severe thunderstorms and some tornadoes in North Carolina's Outer Banks.In Virginia, the salvo of snow, sleet and freezing rain knocked out power to several thousand homes and businesses by Wednesday afternoon. The state police said that as of 3 p.m., troopers had responded to approximately 200 crashes, including a wreck on Interstate 81 that killed a North Carolina man.The heaviest snowfall was expected in central Pennsylvania, where forecasters in the state capital of Harrisburg said a six-decade-old record for a December snowfall could potentially be broken. But some areas from West Virginia to Maine could get a foot (0.3 meters) of snow — for some, more than they saw all last winter. In New York City, officials braced for the biggest storm in about three years.“Take this seriously,” Mayor de Blasio warned residents.In addition to the usual rolling out of plows and salt spreaders, the nation's most populous city was adding some pandemic-era preparations to its list, such as closing city-run testing sites Wednesday afternoon and suspending outdoor dining in the sometimes elaborate spaces that now occupy parking spaces outside some restaurants.The eateries aren’t being required to break down their wooden enclosures and other structures for outdoor dining, currently the only form of restaurant table service allowed in the city. But they are being told to secure outdoor furniture, remove heaters and take other steps to make way for plows. The city's snow-removal chief, Acting Sanitation Commissioner Ed Grayson, said the agency had been planning and...

 US Covid-19 hospitalizations hit a record high for the seventh day in a row Saturday with 108,487 patients in hospitals around the country, according to the Covid Tracking Project.And the number of Covid-19 cases reported in the United States reached more than 16 million after the country added 1 million cases in just four days, according to Johns Hopkins University data.It took the nation more than eight months to reach 8 million cases but less than two months to double that, as the number of new cases continues to soar.The record hospitalizations come as a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee voted Saturday to recommend the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for patients 16 and older.CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield must accept the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) recommendation before vaccinations can begin. That is expected to happen within hours.The vaccine couldn't come at a more dire moment.On Friday, as the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use, the US recorded more than 3,300 Covid-19 deaths -- the most ever in one day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 231,700 new cases were reported, another pandemic high.There have been more than 100,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals every day since December 2.Dr. Peter Szilagyi, a pediatrician at the University of California Los Angeles and a member of the CDC's advisory committee, said he voted in favor of the vaccine "because of the clear evidence of its efficacy/safety profile and benefit/risk profile, based on our evidence and policy framework.""I know we're going to have very tough and hard times ahead because of the surge and a limited vaccine supply," Szilagyi said immediately following the committee's vote. "But I am really hopeful that this is the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic."Vaccines will be delivered to 145 facilities on MondayThe emergency use authorization (EUA) is a "significant milestone," FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said in a statement Friday. He said it comes after an "open and transparent review process that included input from independent scientific and public health experts and a thorough evaluation by the agency's career scientists."An EUA stops short of a full approval. Pfizer would have to file a separate application for its vaccine to be fully licensed by the FDA.But the EUA "holds the promise to alter the course of this pandemic in the United States," said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.Once the vaccines leave Pfizer's Kalamazoo facility, they'll be bound for 636 locations across the country, Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of the federal government's vaccine initiative Operation Warp Speed, said in a news conference Saturday."We expect 145 sites across all the states to receive the vaccine on Monday, another 425 sites on Tuesday, and the final 66 sites on Wednesday, which will complete the initial delivery of the Pfizer orders for the vaccine," Perna added.But it will be months before most Americans will get one. Advisers to the CDC have recommended health care workers and long-term care facility residents be first in line.In a news conference Saturday morning, Hahn praised FDA scientists working around the clock to review the vaccine."I will absolutely take this Covid-19 vaccine pending availability and distribution," he said, "because I have complete trust and confidence in the FDA's career staff's evaluation.""Science and data guided the FDA's decision," he said.That said, the FDA's "work evaluating the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine does not end with this authorization," Hahn told reporters.Additional review is needed, and a full approval is not expected for months.Of course, Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine is just one of those in development. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told ABC News on Friday that about...

 US Covid-19 hospitalizations hit a record high for the seventh day in a row Saturday with 108,487 patients in hospitals around the country, according to the Covid Tracking Project.And the number of Covid-19 cases reported in the United States reached more than 16 million after the country added 1 million cases in just four days, according to Johns Hopkins University data.It took the nation more than eight months to reach 8 million cases but less than two months to double that, as the number of new cases continues to soar.The record hospitalizations come as a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee voted Saturday to recommend the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for patients 16 and older.CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield must accept the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) recommendation before vaccinations can begin. That is expected to happen within hours.The vaccine couldn't come at a more dire moment.On Friday, as the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use, the US recorded more than 3,300 Covid-19 deaths -- the most ever in one day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 231,700 new cases were reported, another pandemic high.There have been more than 100,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals every day since December 2.Dr. Peter Szilagyi, a pediatrician at the University of California Los Angeles and a member of the CDC's advisory committee, said he voted in favor of the vaccine "because of the clear evidence of its efficacy/safety profile and benefit/risk profile, based on our evidence and policy framework.""I know we're going to have very tough and hard times ahead because of the surge and a limited vaccine supply," Szilagyi said immediately following the committee's vote. "But I am really hopeful that this is the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic."Vaccines will be delivered to 145 facilities on MondayThe emergency use authorization (EUA) is a "significant milestone," FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said in a statement Friday. He said it comes after an "open and transparent review process that included input from independent scientific and public health experts and a thorough evaluation by the agency's career scientists."An EUA stops short of a full approval. Pfizer would have to file a separate application for its vaccine to be fully licensed by the FDA.But the EUA "holds the promise to alter the course of this pandemic in the United States," said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.Once the vaccines leave Pfizer's Kalamazoo facility, they'll be bound for 636 locations across the country, Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of the federal government's vaccine initiative Operation Warp Speed, said in a news conference Saturday."We expect 145 sites across all the states to receive the vaccine on Monday, another 425 sites on Tuesday, and the final 66 sites on Wednesday, which will complete the initial delivery of the Pfizer orders for the vaccine," Perna added.But it will be months before most Americans will get one. Advisers to the CDC have recommended health care workers and long-term care facility residents be first in line.In a news conference Saturday morning, Hahn praised FDA scientists working around the clock to review the vaccine."I will absolutely take this Covid-19 vaccine pending availability and distribution," he said, "because I have complete trust and confidence in the FDA's career staff's evaluation.""Science and data guided the FDA's decision," he said.That said, the FDA's "work evaluating the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine does not end with this authorization," Hahn told reporters.Additional review is needed, and a full approval is not expected for months.Of course, Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine is just one of those in development. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told ABC News on Friday that about...

On this week's "Face the Nation," the FDA has approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use -- how quickly can it be distributed -- as coronavirus cases continue to surge? We hear from Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. Plus interviews with Louisiana Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond, who is soon leaving Congress to join the Biden White House as a senior adviser, Bob Garrett of Hackensack Meridian Health, which is the leading not-for-profit health care organization, and as President Trump continues to contest the results of the 2020 election, why do some Republicans insist on overturning the results? We hear from CBS News Elections and Surveys Director. Anthony Salvanto.

The White House Coronavirus Task Force says the pandemic is now spreading faster and farther than ever and that more must be done to stop it. We're joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. The Supreme Court has shut down one of President Trump's last attempts to overturn the election he clearly lost. The Justice Department says it will join the investigation into the controversial police killing of a black man in Columbus, Ohio.

Britain became the first country in the world to authorize a rigorously tested COVID-19 vaccine and could be dispensing shots within days — a historic step toward eventually ending the outbreak that has killed more than 1.4 million people around the globe.In giving the go-ahead for emergency use of the vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech, Britain vaulted past the United States by at least a week. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not scheduled to consider the vaccine until Dec. 10."This is a day to remember, frankly, in a year to forget," British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.The announcement sets the stage for the biggest vaccination campaign in British history and came just ahead of what experts are warning will be a long, dark winter, with the coronavirus surging to epic levels in recent weeks in the U.S. and Europe.Officials cautioned that several tough months still lie ahead even in Britain, given the monumental task of inoculating large swaths of the population. Because of the limited initial supply, the first shots will be reserved for those most in danger, namely nursing home patients, the elderly and health care workers.Britain's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency recommended the vaccine after clinical trials involving tens of thousands of volunteers showed it was 95% effective and turned up no serious side effects. The vaccine is still considered experimental while final testing is done."This is an unprecedented piece of science," given that the vaccine was authorized less than a year after the virus was discovered, said David Harper, senior consulting fellow in global health at the Chatham House think tank.Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that the "searchlights of science" had picked out the "invisible enemy," which has been blamed for close to 60,000 deaths in Britain. He said that in developing the vaccine, scientists had performed "biological jujitsu" by turning the virus on itself.Other countries aren't far behind: Regulators not only in the U.S. but in the European Union and Canada also are vetting the Pfizer vaccine along with a shot made by Moderna. British and Canadian regulators are also considering a vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.Amid growing concern in the U.S. that Americans will greet vaccines with skepticism, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Britain's decision "should give Americans additional confidence in the quality of such a vaccine." The virus has killed more than 270,000 in the U.S.Hancock said Britain will begin receiving the first shipment of 800,000 doses from Belgium within days, and people will start getting the shots  as soon as it arrives. Two doses three weeks apart are required. The country expects to receive millions of doses by the end of this year, Hancock said, though the exact number will depend on how fast it can be manufactured and checked for quality.BioNTech, which owns the vaccine, said it has so far signed deals to supply 570 million doses worldwide in 2021, with options to deliver 600 million more. It hopes to supply at least 1.3 billion in 2021.That is only a fraction of what will be needed as public health officials try to vaccinate much of the world's population. Experts have said several vaccines will be required to quickly end the pandemic that has infected more than 64 million people globally.In Britain, the first shots will go to nursing home patients and those who care for them, followed by everyone over 80 and health care workers. From there, the program will be expanded as the supply increases, with the vaccine offered roughly on the basis of age groups, starting with the oldest people.Amid the burst of optimism, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla warned governments against any immediate move to relax restrictions and reopen their economies."The time that we will have to go back to normality is not far away," he said. "But it is definitely not...

Covid-19 cases are at record-breaking levels and with a possible surge in the U.S. before Christmas, White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci says “all things considered, we’re not in a good place.” Moderna and Pfizer have both officially filed for FDA emergency authorization for its coronavirus vaccines and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says “we could be seeing both of these vaccines out and getting into people’s arms before Christmas.” William Haseltine is the Chair and President of ACCESS Health International. He tells AC360 the vaccine news is promising but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Plus, President Trump said he’ll be coming to the Georgia to campaign for Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who face two Senate runoff elections in January. Senator Perdue’s opponent, Jon Ossoff, joins AC360 to react to the President’s visit and says Perdue is griping about Trump in private but in public he’s “indulging the President’s fantasy that he actually won.” Airdate: November 30, 2020 Guests: William Haseltine Jon OssoffTo learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

More than 187,000 new coronavirus cases were reported yesterday, a new record. We're also seeing increased deaths, more than 2,000 people just yesterday. The coronavirus task force held its first public briefing yesterday in months. It came as the CDC issued a blunt new warning, telling Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving. We visit one small hospital in Rupert, Idaho which is in a desperate situation. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar joins us to discuss the federal response. President-elect Biden said he discussed a nationwide mask mandate with governors, and insisted he does not intend to shut down the economy. President Trump's hopes of overturning vote totals in the election suffered a major setback in Georgia. Yesterday, Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, held an extraordinary news conference making unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

With now at least two effective coronavirus vaccines, will they be available to Americans by the end of 2020? Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar joins the Rundown to discuss the Trump Administration's strategy to distribute the vaccine once it's available. He also weighs in on the increase of cases across the country and gives advice on how to be safe during the upcoming holiday season. More than two weeks after Election Day, the Trump Campaign continues legal challenges in multiple states over the results and some Congressional races have yet to be called. However, it is clear that House Republicans exceeded expectations by picking up seats and all eyes are now on the runoff Senate races in Georgia. Arnon Mishkin, Director of the Fox News Decision Desk, discusses the keys takeaways from the 2020 election, why House Republicans appeared to fare better than President Trump and what could be key for both parties to win those two Senate seats in Georgia. Plus, commentary by Jimmy Failla, host of "Fox Across America." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are new efforts in the Trump administration to obstruct the Biden-Harris transition team. The president-elect has been preparing for months to take power, but since President Trump won't admit defeat, he's being denied access to essential government resources. Attorney General William Barr issued a new memo paving the way for prosecutors to investigate claims of voter fraud, even though they're unsubstantiated. While the Trump administration continues to hold up the transition, President-elect Biden's team is considering taking legal action. More than ten million Americans have been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic began. That includes more than one million new cases since the end of October, the worst stretch of infections so far in this country. The U.S. government is gearing up to roll out multiple vaccines when they're ready. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar joins us to discuss those efforts.

COVID-19 cases are surging across the U.S. with a rise in hospitalizations and deaths. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar weighs in on the increasing coronavirus cases as we head into the winter and flu season. He tells us where we are with treatments and vaccines and about the importance of explaining to the American people why it is safe to take the vaccine when it becomes available. A week from today, we still may not know the winner of the 2020 Presidential election, but voters from the Carolinas will have an important say in who does win. On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence went to North Carolina, a state the Republicans may not be able to afford to lose this time around. The Tar Heel state is not just crucial to who wins the Presidency, but also which party will control the Senate. Mark Meredith, Fox News Correspondent, discusses why North Carolina is so critical and why it's neighbor, South Carolina, is also becoming a key state to watch. Plus, commentary by Robert Jeffress, Fox News contributor and pastor of the Dallas First Baptist Church. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four years ago, then-president-elect Donald Trump broke with decades of US diplomatic tradition simply by picking up the phone. That’s because the person calling was Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president.By speaking with her, Trump seemed to challenge the long-standing US diplomatic policy of officially regarding Taiwan as part of China. No other US president or president-elect is believed to have spoken directly with a Taiwanese leader since 1979.Related: Amid increasing US-China tensions, humor is serious businessTrump’s move was the beginning of a major shift that has increased ties between the US and Taiwan, leading to threatening countermoves by China and amplified tensions in the South China Sea.With human rights activists jailed in Hong Kong, fears are growing that China will next set its sights on Taiwan, a fledgling democracy seeking independence. US policy, as set by the next president, may play a defining role.The Trump administration has maintained that it hasn’t formally changed US policy toward Taiwan, but it has stepped up arms sales to the country, and increased the pace of high-level visits by US officials. In early August, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar led a delegation to Taipei, the Taiwanese capital.“We could not be prouder that Taiwan is one of the US’s 10 largest trading partners.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar“We could not be prouder that Taiwan is one of the US’s 10 largest trading partners,” Azar said, announcing a new economic dialogue with Taiwan focused on technology and health care.It was a dramatic step toward closer US-Taiwan relations, and not long after, Taiwanese President Tsai — who had just been reelected — gave a speech demanding Beijing recognize Taiwan as a self-governed democracy.Related: Trump campaign courts voters in swing states with tough stance on Venezuela“The right of people to choose how they are governed is [a] universal aspiration and inalienable right,” she said. “As president, it is incumbent on me to protect these rights and to make certain they will be passed down to future generations.”China responded by conducting large-scale military drills off of Taiwan’s southwestern coast. The US made another move, sending Under Secretary of State Keith Krach to visit Taiwan. China responded again by flying jets into Taiwanese airspace.“That caused the Taiwan Defense Department to actually give a press conference and say we reserve the right to respond with our own military,” said Kelsey Broderick, an analyst and Taiwan expert with the Eurasia Group. “That's new.”Despite China’s hostile moves, Broderick said they could have been much worse. Many are surprised that China hasn’t hit back harder.“In my conversations with former Obama officials, one of the things that they have mentioned is that they thought that China would react much more strongly to some of the things the Trump administration has done, and China didn't,” she said.Related: COVID-19 in the West Wing means instability amid fraught election, analyst saysTo Broderick, that means China might be willing to take even more pressure on Taiwan. And she said that’s what might happen if Trump is reelected. Broderick says that if former Vice President Joe Biden is elected, though, Democrats may play it safe. Historically, they’ve promoted dialogue with China on Taiwan.“They're probably going to in some ways kind of walk back their relationship a little bit. I think that we will see much less high-profile efforts to be close to Taiwan.”Kelsey Broderick, Eurasia Group“They're probably going to in some ways kind of walk back their relationship a little bit,” Broderick said. “I think that we will see much less high-profile efforts to be close to Taiwan.”Others though, point to the long-standing bipartisan support for Taiwan, and say Biden would stay the course that the Trump administration has charted.Related: Explainer: Both candidates' platforms underline US struggle to confront China“There’s definitely a lot of uncertainty over the elections, but whatever happens, we don't believe things will actually change a lot,” said Wellington Tzou, president of the Taiwanese American Citizens League. Tzou added that the Democratic platform under Biden omits any mention of a “One China” policy — which recognizes Taiwan as part of China — for the first time in years.But if China increases aggression toward Taiwan, the US will face more pressure to respond, regardless of who is president, said Russell Hsiao of the Global Taiwan Institute.“Beijing has to recognize that the more that it pressures Taipei, the more that it will elicit greater calls and support for Taiwan here in the US,” he said.Hsiao said there’s now a growing discussion about whether Trump was right four years ago, and it’s time for the US to be clear about its position on Taiwan. 

This week, the United States marked a grim milestone: more than 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic. Against this backdrop, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar moved to bar the national health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, from signing off on any new rules without his consent. Azar's sweeping declaration, called by some as a "power grab," would affect regulation of the nation’s foods, medicines, medical devices and other products, including vaccines. That’s according to a September 15th memo, obtained by the New York Times. We'll talk about the federal response to the pandemic and how the nation is faring in its fight against COVID-19.

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is giving new life to the latest constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act. It also places anti-abortion activists on the cusp of a court majority large enough to ensure the rollback of the right to abortion and, possibly, some types of birth control. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar tries to centralize power at the sprawling department plagued by miscommunications and scandals. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, Rovner interviews KHN’s Sarah Jane Tribble about her new podcast, “Where It Hurts,” debuting Sept. 29.

Fill in host Joey D talks with US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about steps toward a coronavirus vaccine and tips for a safe Labor Day weekend.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and the Trump Administration say they will not let 'red tape' slow their effort combat the coronavirus. That is one of the reasons why Sec. Azar and the White House have been defending their recent emergency authorization of convalescent plasma to treat Covid-19. Earlier in the week, the HHS Secretary joined host Jessica Rosenthal to discuss the effectiveness of using the blood of recovered coronavirus patients in those battling the virus and some of the controversies surrounding the authorization of that treatment.  Sec. Azar stood by its effectiveness and denied claims the White House pressured the FDA and other health officials to prematurely okay the use of plasma.  Our interview with the key White House Coronavirus Task Force member was long and we could not include much of it in our original segment.  On the Fox News Rundown you will hear more from HHS Sec. Alex Azar and hear his take on the perception held by some that America is not handling this virus as well as other countries in the world.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Night two of the Republican National Convention continued to craft their argument against and the radical left, while highlighting President Trump's accomplishments while he's been in office. First Lady Melania Trump also took center stage at the GOP Convention in front of a small audience in the Rose Garden discussing the American dream. FOX News National Correspondent Jared Halpern and FOX News Radio's Political Analyst Josh Kraushaar speak with Director of Strategic Communications of the Trump 2020 Campaign, Marc Lotter about last night's theme "Land of Opportunity" and the controversy over President Trump's pardon and naturalization ceremony. The Trump administration recently granted emergency authorization of convalescent plasma to treat hospitalized Covid-19 patients. But there have been questions about the effectiveness of the treatment and whether or not the decision was made based on politics. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and a recovering Covid-19 patient, who recently received blood plasma, discuss the treatment and whether it should have been approved for widespread use. Plus, commentary by Fox News Correspondent-at-large, Geraldo Rivera. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

State officials monitor Hurricane Laura as it continues to intensify ahead of landfall.And, after a period of decline, the rolling average of COVID-19 cases ticks up.Plus, we examine how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting Mississippi's HBCUs.Then, after a Southern Remedy Health Minute, the FDA issues emergency use of a new form of treatment for COVID-19.Segment 1:Hurricane Laura is intensifying quickly - building from a Category 1 to a Category 3 storm in the last 12 hours, with maximum sustained winds now at 115 miles per hour. But, the worst could be yet to come as forecasters predict the storm could strengthen to a Category 4 before landfall late tonight or early tomorrow. While the predictive cone shows the center of the storm landing in southwest Louisiana, Mississippi officials are monitoring Laura as it is still poised to bring wind, rain, and storm surge to Mississippi. Governor Tate Reeves says the state is preparing for the worst.In addition to the looming threat of Hurricane Laura, the state is continuing it's fight against COVID-19. Recent reports of daily cases have not followed the downward trend of last week. Governor Reeves says Mississippians need to keep doing the little things.Segment 2:Institutions of higher learning in Mississippi are facing multiple challenges restarting classes amid the coronavirus pandemic. But as MPB's Ashley Norwood reports, leaders at historically Black colleges and universities say the impact at their schools -- is greater.Segment 3:Southern Remedy Health MinuteSegment 4:The Food and Drug Administration is granting emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma in the continued fight against COVID-19. Flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, President Trump described the treatment as safe and effective. Dr. Richard Summers is Vice Chancellor of Research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He explains the storied use of plasma in treatment, and the status of plasma trials in the fight against COVID-19. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The McLaughlin Group -- August 7, 2020 guest panelist this week is conservative strategist Matt Mackowiak  Issue one: Ballot Battles Rashida Tlaib wins her primary rematch with a larger margin of victory than in 2018, Cori Bush defeats a 20-year incumbent in Missouri, and Carolyn Maloney fends off a progressive challenger in New York. The panel discusses the significance of these results, plus mail-in ballots and election security as we head toward November. Issue two: Don't Tear Down That Wall Joe Biden tried to take a middle road this week when he was asked if he would tear down the wall along the Mexican border. Biden said he would not, but pledged there would be no new wall constructed during his administration. Issue three: Mr. Azar Goes to Taipei Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will soon visit Taiwan to recognize their response to the Coronavirus pandemic. But believing Taiwan to be a breakaway province, China views this as an affront to its national integrity. Issue four: Crossfire Hurricane Season Continues The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday held its second oversight hearing in relation to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Plus: predictions! Twitter YouTube facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's News: Ethics board meets The Trump administration established the National Institutes of Health Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board earlier this year amid calls to end the practice of using aborted baby body parts in taxpayer-funded research. The Scientist reports President Donald Trump appointed the 15 board members, and at least 10 of them are pro-life. The board met for the first time July 31. The new ethics board is made up of 15 non-government employees, including doctors, scientists, ethicists, attorneys and theologians. Its task is to research the use of aborted baby body parts in taxpayer-funded scientific research and make ethical recommendations about it. The board will create a final report with recommendations for U.S. Department Of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. World Day against human trafficking July 30 was the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, a day of awareness for sex trafficking around the world. To emphasize the subject, the Women’s Rights Without Frontiers organization noted that Communist China is ranked among the world’s worst offenders in sex trafficking by the U.S. State Department. China has “an insatiable market for sexual slavery, but china also is a major purveyor of sexual slavery around the world,” said Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, in a press release. ACLU sues Catholic hospitals Catholic hospitals around the country are on a collision course with the ACLU, the Democratic Party and assorted social-justice secularists who insist that these religious institutions violate their own faith precepts in the provision of medical services. In Washington state, a proposed merger between a secular and Catholic hospital systems has brought down the ire of the ACLU and others, such as End of Life Washington and NARAL. Specifically, the ACLU wants to force the merged system to practice medicine in a secular fashion, meaning the Catholic hospital would be required to perform abortions, transgender surgeries, and assisted suicides — all legal in Washington, but all also prohibited in Catholic teaching. There have already been several lawsuits filed against religious hospitals around the country for obeying the principles of catholic health care, with the primary focus seemingly on hospitals denying transgender hysterectomies, abortions, and sterilizations. Assisted suicides in Hawaii reported The Hawaii assisted suicide law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019. The 2019 Hawaii Assisted Suicide Report, issued on July 1, indicates that in the first year of legalized assisted suicide: 30 people were prescribed lethal drugs, 15 people died by assisted suicide, eight people received a lethal prescription died but did not die by assisted suicide and seven people remained alive at the end of 2019. The report also includes preliminary data for 2020 from Jan. 1 to June 26, 2020, 24 people were prescribed lethal drugs and 13 people died by assisted suicide.

Chief Washington Correspondent Kevin Cirilli speaks to White House officials about the Trump Administration's response to COVID-19. Guests: Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus task force, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a Republican representing Ohio's 2nd Congressional district, SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, Ben Williamson, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff, CMS Administrator Seema Verma, Marc Short, Chief of Staff for Vice President Mike Pence, and Tyler Goodspeed, Acting Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.

Guests: Greta Van Susteren, Chief National Political Analyst for Gray Media and Host of Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, and Lester Munson, Principal at government relations firm, BGR Group.

Guests: Greta Van Susteren, Chief National Political Analyst for Gray Media and Host of Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, and Lester Munson, Principal at government relations firm, BGR Group.

Chief Washington Correspondent Kevin Cirilli speaks to White House officials about the Trump Administration's response to COVID-19. Guests: Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus task force, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a Republican representing Ohio's 2nd Congressional district, SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, Ben Williamson, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff, CMS Administrator Seema Verma, Marc Short, Chief of Staff for Vice President Mike Pence, and Tyler Goodspeed, Acting Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.

Public health experts on Wednesday criticized the U.S. for securing a large supply of the only drug licensed so far to treat COVID-19.The U.S. government announced this week that it had an agreement with Gilead Sciences to make the bulk of their production of remdesivir for the next three months available to Americans. The Department of Health and Human Services said it had secured 500,000 treatments through September, which amounts to all but 10% of production in August and September."To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs remdesivir can get it," Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.Ohid Yaqub, a senior lecturer at the University of Sussex, called the U.S. agreement "disappointing news.""It so clearly signals an unwillingness to cooperate with other countries and the chilling effect this has on international agreements about intellectual property rights," Yaqub said in a statementUntil now, Gilead had donated the drug. That ended Tuesday and Gilead this week set the price for new shipments at $2,300 to $3,100 per treatment course. The company is allowing generic makers to supply the drug at much lower prices to 127 poor or middle-income countries.In a statement Wednesday, the California-based Gilead said its agreement with the U.S. allows for any unneeded supplies to be sent to other countries. The company said it is "working as quickly as possible" to enable access worldwide. But it noted that U.S. is seeing a significant rise in COVID-19 cases, while "most EU and other developed countries have reduced their levels of disease considerably."Early studies testing remdesivir in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 found that those who received the treatment recovered quicker than those who didn't. It is the only drug licensed by both the U.S. and the European Union as a treatment for those with severe illness from the coronavirus.Dr. Peter Horby, who is running a large study testing several treatments for COVID-19, told the BBC that "a stronger framework" was needed to ensure fair prices and access to key medicines for people and nations around the world. He said that as an American company, Gilead was likely under "certain political pressures locally."British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman, James Slack, declined to criticize the United States for the move. He said the U.K. had a "sufficient stock" of remdesivir for patients who need it, but didn't specify how much that was.Thomas Senderovitz, head of the Danish Medicines Agency, told Danish broadcaster DR that the move could endanger Europeans and others down the road. "I have never seen anything like that. That a company chooses to sell their stock to only one country. It's very strange and quite inappropriate," he said. "Right now we have enough to make it through the summer if the intake of patients is as it is now. If a second wave comes, we may be challenged."Dr. Michael Ryan, the emergencies chief of the World Health Organization, said the agency was looking into the implications of the U.S. deal for remdesivir."There are many people around the world who are very sick .... and we want to ensure that everybody has access to the necessary, life-saving interventions." He said WHO was "fully committed" to working toward equitable access for such treatments.Gilead had been developing remdesivir for years as a viral treatment, with millions in U.S. funding, before it was tried for coronavirus. The consumer group Public Citizen estimates that at least $70 million in U.S. public funding went to develop remdesivir.On Wednesday, Gilead said its supply of remdesivir should increase by the end of September and meet global demand after that. It said some countries should have enough for current needs, from the supply they received for patient testing and other programs.Gilead has said it expects to spend more than $1 billion by year's end on testing and manufacturing of remdesivir.Dr...

The Coronavirus returns as the dominate story on the Sunday talk shows. Virus containment strategies, like extensive contact tracing, are being successfully implemented in other countries, but are no where near operational in the US. This meanwhile cases of the virus are spiking in several states in the south and southwest, including Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. Today on Polilogue we explore how the Sunday morning political shows handled conversations with key leaders of the virus taskforce: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Vice President Mike Pence. We also examine the asks, expectations, and pleas of other political and public health leaders. ChaptersIntroductionHighlight / LowlightThe Resurging VirusPolice Reform UpdateShow RankingsClosing Shows discussed Face the Nation on CBSState of the Union on CNNFox News Sunday on FOXThis Week on ABCMeet the Press on NBCContact usEmail us at podcast@polilogue.com or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!Check out some of our other work: Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Carl Quintanilla, Jim Cramer and David Faber discuss the move in the major averages, higher to start the week, as investors shrugging off a surge in coronavirus cases across the United States. Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar warning Sunday that the “window is closing” to curb the spread of the virus and get the outbreak under control. Confirmed cases across the globe topping 10 million, with global deaths passing half a million. Plus, Gilead announcing its coronavirus treatment Remdesivir’s price tag. It will cost $3,120 per U.S. patient with private insurance. Major advertising fallout for Facebook. Over the weekend, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Diageo and Hershey’s all announced they’re pausing social media ads in the latest action against hate speech on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Plus, a pioneer in the U.S. shale revolution, Chesapeake Energy, filing for bankruptcy protection. The company announcing $7 billion in debt will be wiped out through its restructuring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Overnight Underground Podcast, here’s the headlines: Big gains on the Dow. White House wags its finger. Michigan’s squirt gun priest and your cat is a stone cold killer. These stories & more coming up on today’s Overnight Underground News. I’m John Ford.   Big gains on the Dow The Dow is kicking ass and taking names today, with US markets up over nine hundred points mid-day. CNBC reports the gains are due to the news that possible vaccines could be on the way for coronavirus. Massachusetts based Moderna has gone on record that early results from their Covid-19 trial vaccines are showing promise. All forty five participants in the trials developed antibodies against the virus.  Needless to say, Moderna’s stock price has also been a gainer today, up around forty percent. Can anyone say pump and dump?  White House pointy little finger The Trump White House is now pointing fingers at the CDC for failings in the battle against coronavirus. CNN reports that the finger wagging coming from the administration is squarely aimed as an rationalism  for the Covid-19 death toll.  White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro on CNN. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also proposed yesterday that underlying health conditions was one reason for the lofty American death toll. Communion squirt gun The power of the squirt gun compels you. A priest at Saint Andrews Parish in Grosse Pointe, Michigan not only got into the spirit of the drive by church service, Father Tim Pelc took it a step further. NBC’s Today and other outlets are reporting that the priest, during holy week a little over a month ago, used a squirt gun to bless parishioners with holy water. (squirt squirt) Pelc said, quote: “"You can't double dip into the holy water container. I thought, what could I do that would keep the quarantine restrictions going and give kids the experience of Easter?" Undoubtedly not the first time a priest gave the kids the old  Enquiring Minds soon won't know We’re not quite sure how you are going to survive this next story, but The Daily Beast is reporting, that bastion of journalism, The National Enquirer, is about to shit the bed. How will we ever find out about UFO’s, Aliens and Obama, Elvis, Michael Jackson and OJ’s shoes if the Enquirer goes out of business?  Your cat is a murderer Your cat is a cold blooded killer. A new Australian study, as reported by LAD Bible, housecats who strut their stuff outside of the home, are stone cold killers. The study, published in Wildlife Research, notes that a single domesticated pet cat is capable of snuffing the lives of up to 186 reptiles, birds and mammals in just one year. Dalmer would have been envious.  In the lifetime of a cat, that’s over eight thousand victims snuffed out by your adorable little serial killer. Honestly, cat’s should be categorized as biological weapons and controlled by the Geneva Convention.  Hey what happen' to Fred Willard Comedic intellect Fred Willard died over the weekend. Maybe most known these days for his role in the sitcom Modern Family, Willard was also known for his many roles in the mocumentaries of Christopher Guest, including Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman.  Willard was eighty six. 

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop TODAY'S HEADLINES: Donald Trump loses it after the person who feeds him tests positive for coronavirus. And once again, the White House has been busted censoring public health information. Meanwhile, the Justice Department drops its case against Trump’s favorite spy, Mike Flynn – even though Flynn already pleaded guilty. It’s a great week for public corruption, all around. And lastly, a civic coalition in Toronto succeeds in stopping a corporate takeover downtown. Instead of a private neighborhood for Google, now they might build public housing. THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW: One of Donald Trump’s personal White House valets has tested positive for the coronavirus, CNN reported yesterday. This person serves in the US Navy, and their duties include serving Trump meals, and shining his shoes. When Trump found out, he didn’t offer sympathy. Instead, staff claim, he got QUOTE lava-level mad ENDQUOTE. Apparently Trump expects staff to protect his health at the same time they’re stuffing his face with cheeseburgers. He and Vice President Mike Pence are still said to be ’rona-free. But Trump told reporters he will now be getting tested daily, instead of weekly. This is the same guy who just said it’s not important for us to get tested. May he gag on a swab. Also, the Associated Press reported the White House is preventing federal experts from telling the public how to stay healthy. Trump’s lackeys suppressed a seventeen-page the Centers for Disease Control report that contained step-by-step guidance for schools, bars, churches, and so on, about reopening safely. But the White House doesn’t want people to be too safe, you see. The document said restaurants that reopen should make sure diners are seated six feet apart. That advice was removed, along with many other specifics. The CDC document was supposed to be published today. The new advice is... I don’t know, work hard and pray? Trump isn’t the only one who’s taken to blaming the help. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told members of Congress that dirty, filty workers were to blame for spreading coronavirus in meat packing plants across the country. According to Politico, Azar blamed unsanitary working-class homes -- rather than, say, factory conditions – for major workplace outbreaks in the food industry. At least two dozen meatpacking plants have closed and supermarkets are facing some shortages. Instead of improving conditions at factories, Azar suggested sending more police into workers’ communities to enforce social distancing. Does he really think putting more people in jail will slow the spread of COVID-19? Or is just the classist garbage it seems to be? These people running the country are truly twisted. DOJ Drops Flynn Case Crime does pay if your name is Mike Flynn and you are the former National Security Adviser to Donald Trump. Twice, he admitted guilt in lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But yesterday the Justice Department said it was dropping all charges against Flynn. Again, he’d already pleaded guilty. And, typically, prosecutors, including Attorney General Bill Barr, prefer to secure convictions. Instead of, you know, letting criminals free after they admit guilt. Let’s just say it very, very rarely happens that they up and drop a case like this. The new DOJ filings basically say Flynn did nothing wrong and echo Trump’s own view of the case. Prosecutors didn’t try to argue that Flynn actually told the truth, simply that he never should have been interviewed. Imagine if Flynn stole a forty-ouncer from the corner store. If every defendant got this treatment, America’s jails would be empty. Responding to the news, Trump ranted about punishing those responsible for a treasonous conspiracy. Elsewhere in justiceland, the Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous decision, overturned the convictions of two Chris Christie associates involved in the 2013 Bridge-gate scandal. One, Bridget Anne Kelly, wrote the infamous email telling saying it was QUOTE time for some traffic problems ENDQUOTE, before closing the world’s busiest bridge as political payback. The other lucky wire fraud convict, Bill Baroni, worked at the Port Authority. The Supreme Court did not say Kelly and Baroni weren’t corrupt -- only that it wasn’t the kind of corruption the court was concerned with. See? Crime does pay sometimes. The former New Jersey Governor got to brag he was vindicated. Whatever you say, man -- you’re still Chris Christie. Toronto Defeats Google Takeover Google is pulling the plug on what was supposed to be showcase for its effort to take over urban planning, city by city, around the world. The company is blaming coronavirus for its decision. But locals in Toronto are crediting two years of political pressure by a broad coalition of local interests_._ Toronto is where Google’s Trojan Horse subsidiary, Sidewalk Labs, had hoped to build a private neighborhood called Quayside on the downtown lakeshore. The project was at one point supposed to encompass over one-hundred and ninety acres. That’s well over one-hundred city blocks. This proved controversial. Especially since planners approved a more modest, twelve-acre project -- before Google came back with this crazy plan to take over the city. Some of the company’s ideas weren’t even legal. It wasn’t even critics saying that, it was Waterfront Toronto, the quasi-public agency that was Google’s partner in the deal. In addition to the expanding size of the project, many locals were concerned about digital spying. Naturally, Google’s idea of a smart city is one that’s totally covered in cameras and sensors. Others warned that Google wanted to claim an ownership interest in the work done by small businesses in the neighborhood. According to the Globe and Mail newspaper, it was activism around these kind of issues, as much as the real estate downturn, that made Google give up. Now Waterfront Toronto says it might build more public housing at the site. Wait, the real estate people want to do something helpful? And necessary? Are they feeling okay? AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES: A California newspaper obtained what it says is the first known public record confirming sexual assault allegations by Tara Reade against her former employer, Joe Biden. A court declaration from 1996 found by the San Luis Obispo Tribune shows Reade told her ex-husband about the alleged assault in 1993. It doesn’t prove Biden assaulted Reade – but it does show Democrats were not smart to base their defense of Biden on a lack of records. Separately, Fox News released part of its interview with Reade. She says it’s too late for an apology and Biden should end his presidential campaign. If you live on the East Coast, or the West Coast, expect a spell of intense weather starting today. But as some forecasters are saying, it’s like the coasts will be entering different seasons. Out West, there will be record heat. Back East, record cold. On Saturday, Anchorage, Alaska, will be fifteen degrees warmer than Washington, DC. The weather folks say it’s not normal for so much arctic air to head south at this time in the spring. As you may have noticed, climate change is making extreme weather more common. Two white men in Georgia were finally charged for the murder of a young black man jogging through the suburbs. The arrests took place yesterday, more than two months after the killing but only days after a graphic video emerged. Gregory and Travis McMichael, sixty- four and thirty-four years old, chased down twenty-five-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in their truck and shot him unprovoked. Prosecutors in two counties initially declined to pursue the case. State police made yesterday’s arrests only after public outcry. Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he believes in extraterrestrials. Reid, now eighty, retired from the Senate in 2017. In Congress, he was responsible for funding at least two formerly secret programs to investigate UFOs. But his Vice News interview published yesterday was the first time he linked that subject to a search for alien life. He said his former colleagues in Congress should pursue the subject even if their staff try to convince them otherwise. Anything else you want to tell us, Harry? That’s all for the AM Quickie. Join us this afternoon on the Majority Report. And remember, this Sunday is Mother’s Day. HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner WRITER - Corey Pein PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn

Jim Daly has a discussion with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar who offers his expert insights on the coronavirus pandemic. Then Sarah Mackenzie, author of The Read-Aloud Family, explains how parents can strengthen their relationships with their children by reading books together as a family. Podcast users, find today's related broadcast resources here: https://dbx.focusonthefamily.com/media/daily-broadcast/connecting-with-your-kids-through-reading Your feedback would be really helpful to us. Please visit http://www.focusonthefamily.com/podcastsurvey to take a brief survey (less than 5 minutes). Thank you!

Governor Pritzker warns students to prepare for Fall semester online, White House floats replacing Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Live Nation amends its refund policy, and more. Host: Josie Alameda Stories by: Glenda Villalón, Reese Armstrong, Salem Isaf, and Tara Mobasher. Support this podcast

Featuring Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar by Kevin McCullough Radio

The U.S. nearing the end of President Trump's recommendation of 15 days of social distancing to slow the spread of Covid-19. Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar joined host Lisa Brady on the Fox News Rundown to discusses how the strategy was working. Sec. Azar explained why social distancing is vital to mitigating the coronavirus, how private industries have stepped up to help combat the virus and what lessons we can learn from this global pandemic. The conversation covered a lot of ground and we could not include all of it into our original segment. On The Fox News Rundown Extra, you will hear our full interview with one of the key member President Trump's coronavirus task force and learn even more about how government is batting the pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. is in the second week of President Trump's recommendation of 15 days of social distancing to slow the spread of Covid-19. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar discusses why social distancing is vital to mitigating the coronavirus, how private industries have stepped up to help combat the virus and what lessons we can learn from this global pandemic.   Many Governors around the country are telling civilians to 'stay at home' or 'shelter in place.' So, does that mean you can be prosecuted for leaving your home? Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano joins the Fox News Rundown to discuss whether these orders can actually be enforced legally. Don't miss the good news with Tonya J. Powers. Plus, commentary by "The Guy Benson Show" host, Guy Benson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Week: "15 days to stop the spread" has been the guidelines from the White House to help combat the coronavirus pandemic. So what happens when the initial 15 days are over? President Trump says he would like to open the economy and have Americans back to normal by Easter, but is that a realistic goal? Jared and FOX's White House Correspondent Jon Decker discuss.   The White House task force has been provide daily updates to the public since the coronavirus pandemic began. FOX's Lisa Brady speaks with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about the latest updates on COVID-19 and why it's important to follow the CDC guidelines.   Congress voted in favor of a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, the largest relief package in U.S. history which President Trump later signed. Jared and FOX's Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram discuss what's in the stimulus package and what this means moving forward.    The world has turned upside down due to the coronavirus pandemic, as everyday life has been disrupted. Businesses, schools and sports leagues shut down for the foreseeable future and social distancing is being pushed in many states. FOX's Washington Correspondent Rachel Sutherland speaks with grief expert David Kessler about how grief has played a huge role during this pandemic.

The U.S. is in the second week of President Trump's recommendation of 15 days of social distancing to slow the spread of Covid-19. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar discusses why social distancing is vital to mitigating the coronavirus, how private industries have stepped up to help combat the virus and what lessons we can learn from this global pandemic.   Many Governors around the country are telling civilians to 'stay at home' or 'shelter in place.' So, does that mean you can be prosecuted for leaving your home? Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano joins the Fox News Rundown to discuss whether these orders can actually be enforced legally. Don't miss the good news with Tonya J. Powers. Plus, commentary by "The Guy Benson Show" host, Guy Benson.

This Week: "15 days to stop the spread" has been the guidelines from the White House to help combat the coronavirus pandemic. So what happens when the initial 15 days are over? President Trump says he would like to open the economy and have Americans back to normal by Easter, but is that a realistic goal? Jared and FOX's White House Correspondent Jon Decker discuss.   The White House task force has been provide daily updates to the public since the coronavirus pandemic began. FOX’s Lisa Brady speaks with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about the latest updates on COVID-19 and why it’s important to follow the CDC guidelines.   Congress voted in favor of a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, the largest relief package in U.S. history which President Trump later signed. Jared and FOX's Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram discuss what’s in the stimulus package and what this means moving forward.    The world has turned upside down due to the coronavirus pandemic, as everyday life has been disrupted. Businesses, schools and sports leagues shut down for the foreseeable future and social distancing is being pushed in many states. FOX's Washington Correspondent Rachel Sutherland speaks with grief expert David Kessler about how grief has played a huge role during this pandemic.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is closer to the Democratic nomination after his latest primary victories. The number of coronavirus victims in the U.S. is now more than 1,000. The White House and Congress are working fast on a package to limit the economic damage from the outbreak. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar joins us.

Former Vice President Joe Biden had a resounding win in South Carolina — thus reviving his campaign and making a clear case to be the alternative to Sen. Bernie Sanders. Additionally, late on Sunday evening, Mayor Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race as well. The Sunday talk shows focused their coverage of the Democratic race on Sanders and Biden and ignored most of the other candidates. The White House also sent Vice President Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to all of the Sunday talk shows to calm and reassure the American public. Secretary Azar achieved this objective; Vice President Pence did not. ChaptersIntroductionHighlight/LowlightSouth Carolina win revives Biden campaign White House responds to Coronavirus Why It Matters: Public TrustShow RankingsClosingAlso, don’t miss our special episode about the Tuesday Democratic debate! It will appear in your podcast feed on Wednesday morning. Shows discussed Face the Nation on CBSState of the Union on CNNFox News Sunday on FOXThis Week on ABCMeet the Press on NBCArticle we discussA great article in the NYT about public trust in times of crisis: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-credibility.html Email us at podcast@polilogue.com or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket and with about 10 hours of work every Sunday. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!Check out some of our other work: Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

A recent comment by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that a possible Coronavirus vaccine might not be "affordable" for everyone got Craig thinking that this statement epitomizes what's wrong with our current health care system.   Democrats are all pushing for some form of universal health coverage but its often dismissed as an expensive pipe dream at best, or at worst, the first step towards communism.   Craig says at least the Democrats acknowledge that the status quo isn't good...and that It's time for media AND voters to actually get over their fear, and take a real look at the various plans, and what they might offer.   

This week, Rodney and Emma discuss Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar's testimony on Capitol Hill regarding the President's FY 2021 budget, as well as how the impending May 22 funding deadline for the health extenders will shape policy making.

Facebook … if you're  not on, you probably know somebody who is. More than two billion people use the social media platform every month. The company and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg also face regular scrutiny from lawmakers, the media and its own customers. In a rare, exclusive interview, Zuckerberg sits down with Fox News' Dana Perino to defend his company and explain why he sees himself as a defender of free speech.   President Donald campaigned on defeating the opioid crisis. Since January 2018, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has spent a lot of energy on that goal. On the Fox News Rundown, HHS Sec. Azar gives an update on how the war on opioids is doing and how the administration is addressing the recent concerns over vaping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ebola again threatens to spread death through Africa's core. Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren follows US health officials to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda, where the US is part of the international response to contain this latest health crisis. See how the outbreak is being handled and find out more about the successes and challenges to fight this deadly virus. Interviews include US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar; Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the US National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease; and Dr. Malonga Miatudila, one of the first to uncover and identify the Ebola virus. Episode recorded October 2, 2019.

The Trump administration said Wednesday it will set up a system to allow Americans to legally import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, weakening a longstanding ban that had stood as a top priority for the politically powerful pharmaceutical industry. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Wednesday morning.  Azar, a former drug industry executive, said U.S. patients will be able to import medications safely and effectively, with oversight from the Food and Drug Administration. The administration's proposal would allow states, wholesalers and pharmacists to get FDA approval to import certain medications that are also available in Canada. This plan is part of President Donald Trump's goal to decrease the cost of medication for Americans, but what does this mean for Canadians? Will Canada be able to supply such a large market?       Guest: Sarah Overmohle Drug Reporter, Politico in Washington D.C.

Chapter 1

In an update two weeks ago, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the recent measles outbreak has led to the most cases of the disease since 2000. Before 1963, in the decade before the measles vaccination was created, an estimated three to four million people were infected, and about 400 to 500 people died of the disease each year. But there's still some push-back against not only the measles vaccine, but vaccines in general. Opponents sometimes cite religious reasons or debunked studies linking vaccinations to autism as reasons not to be vaccinated. We discussed the outbreaks and the science on WFPL's In Conversation. Our guests included: Cameual Wright, Caresource Medical Director Jeff Howard, State Health Commissioner Dawn Balcom, University of Louisville Family Nurse Practitioner

With Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s recent announcement that HHS is targeting rebates as one of the reasons for America’s high drug prices, Secretary Azar is the first who has finally identified one of the critical problems in our drug pricing system and why U.S. drugs seem so much more expensive.  Tom and Tim have been arguing this point for many years.  Does the plan go far enough and identify the biggest offenders of the rebate scam?  Tune in the next two episodes to find out.

Join us for a major policy address by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. As a leading voice for conservative healthcare solutions, we are honored to have Secretary Azar deliver this special address at The Heritage Foundation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Washington Post’s Paige Winfield Cunningham speaks one-on-one with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about reducing health-care costs, Medicare payment reform, lowering prescription drug prices and expanding access to lower-cost insurance.

NAHU's lobbyists, John Greene and Chris Hartmann, join this week's podcast to review the IRS notices that were released last week on the maximum HSA contribution and the small business tax credit. They discuss Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar's latest push for value-based healthcare, an effort NAHU strongly supports, and what agents and brokers should tell their clients about it. John and Chris also give their prognosis on the revived attempt at passing a repeal and replace of the ACA, both before the midterm elections and in the “Lame Duck” session of Congress. Finally, the podcast addresses two NAHU legislative items: the Medicare broker bill and the proposed HSA reforms.

NAHU’s lobbyists, John Greene and Chris Hartmann, join this week’s podcast to review the IRS notices that were released last week on the maximum HSA contribution and the small business tax credit. They discuss Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s latest push for value-based healthcare, an effort NAHU strongly supports, and what agents and brokers should tell their clients about it. John and Chris also give their prognosis on the revived attempt at passing a repeal and replace of the ACA, both before the midterm elections and in the “Lame Duck” session of Congress. Finally, the podcast addresses two NAHU legislative items: the Medicare broker bill and the proposed HSA reforms.