Covid Takes Another Bite Out of US Life Expectancy

Plus, billions in aid for restaurants? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [The Fisc](   By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey A big day for President Biden and Democrats. The Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Mitt Romney (UT) — joined all 50 Democrats in supporting her nomination. The White House will reportedly host an event Friday celebrating the vote, but the judge won’t officially join the court until Justice Stephen Breyer steps down, likely in late June or early July after the current term ends. Here's what else is going on. Flags on the National Mall commemorating Covid-19 victims (Allison Bailey/NurPhoto) Covid Takes Another Bite Out of US Life Expectancy Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped again in 2021, according to a new analysis that tallies the terrible toll Covid-19 continued to take last year. Across all groups, life expectancy fell to 76.60 years in 2021, the lowest level in at least 25 years. Last year’s decline comes on the heels of an even larger drop in 2020, when life expectancy fell from 78.86 to 76.99 – the largest fall since World War II. Unlike the first year of the pandemic, when deaths were more pronounced among Blacks and Hispanics, white Americans saw the largest loss of life expectancy in 2021. Black and Hispanic Americans actually gained some life expectancy last year, in sharp contrast to the loss of about a third of a year among whites. The researchers said that specific conditions in the U.S. contributed to the poor performance, including fewer pandemic restrictions and more resistance to vaccines, as well health problems like diabetes and obesity. The U.S. fared far worse than 19 other wealthy countries researchers examined, including England, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain and Sweden, most of which saw increases in life expectancy in 2021. Noreen Goldman, a demographer at Princeton University who was not involved in the study, [told NPR]( that the report reflects a shameful performance by the U.S. “It just continues to boggle my mind how poorly we've come through this pandemic,” she said. “And I find that disgraceful.” House Approves $55 Billion in Covid Aid for Restaurants and Other Hard-Hit Businesses The House on Thursday approved a $55 billion Covid-19 aid package for restaurants and other businesses still affected by the pandemic, but the legislation has little chance of clearing the Senate. The bill passed by a vote of 223-203. Just six Republicans joined with 217 Democrats in backing the measure, which would provide $42 billion in aid for restaurants and $13 billion for other hard-hit industries such as gyms and concert venues. Supporters said that the new money was necessary because the original $28.6 billion Restaurant Relief Fund provided by Democrats as part of their 2021 pandemic bill was depleted and only one-third of applicants had received funds. More than 170,000 eligible applicants did not get aid. “We under-appropriated to begin with,” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) told [Roll Call]( last week. “So this is about a make-good and not picking winners and losers. And that notion is picking up some steam, recognizing this is not a prospective COVID relief bill. This is a retrospective make-good.” Budget watchers said the bill, which hasn’t yet been scored by the Congressional Budget Office, appears to be mostly deficit-financed. “The government has already authorized over $6 trillion of Covid relief. With inflation surging, debt near record highs, and unemployment at pre-pandemic levels, now is not the time for more. Instead, we should be lowering deficits to help the Federal Reserve get inflation back under control,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which promotes deficit reduction. “Any new spending should be focused on addressing the pandemic itself, and should be fully offset so as not to increase deficits or worsen inflation.” Democrats argued that the measure will be paid for in part by recouping funds obtained fraudulently from the Paycheck Protection Program. The bottom line: Restaurants that qualified for aid but didn’t get it are likely going to be left waiting. “The bill’s chances in the Senate are slim,” [Politico says](. “A group of bipartisan senators have been working on their own package that they hope to reconcile with the House version, though it would need to win support from at least 10 Senate Republicans.” Medicare Finalizes Plan to Limit Coverage of Controversial New Alzheimer’s Drug Medicare on Thursday finalized a decision to severely limit coverage of a costly and controversial new Alzheimer’s drug, announcing that it would only cover the new treatment for patients who receive it as part of a clinical trial. The drug, Biogen’s Aduhelm, has been the subject of tremendous debate since before the Food and Drug Administration approved it last year as the first new Alzheimer’s treatment in nearly two decades. Once it was approved, patient advocacy groups pressed officials to pay for it despite serious questions about its efficacy and safety risks. Other analysts warned that broad coverage of the drug’s costs could have dire implications for Medicare’s finances. Biogen initially priced the drug at $56,000 a year before dropping the price to $28,800 a year in the face of weak sales and resistance to using it from many hospitals and doctors. Medicare had enacted a large premium increase for 2022 in part because of the potential costs of Aduhelm. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has said that he would look at lowering premiums once a final coverage decision for Aduhelm was made. Thursday’s decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will likely limit coverage to a small fraction of the estimated 1.5 million Americans who have mild Alzheimer’s-related cognitive decline, delivering a blow to those desperate for new treatment options in the fight against the disease. The decision — highly unusual because Medicare typically covers drugs once they are approved by the FDA — also means that the drug will have less of a financial impact on the health insurance program for seniors. “It’s our obligation at C.M.S. to really make sure it’s reasonable and necessary,” Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told [The New York Times]( Thursday. Medicare also said Thursday that it would not automatically limit coverage of similar drugs in the pipeline. “If, unlike with Aduhelm, the F.D.A. finds that there is clear evidence that a drug can help patients, Medicare would cover it for all eligible patients and would only impose a requirement that the patients’ experience be tracked,” Pam Belluck of the Times reports. Jobless Claims Match 1968 Low Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to 166,000 last week, the lowest weekly reading since the fall of 1968, the Labor Department announced Thursday. The better-than-expected results provide yet more confirmation that the demand for workers is exceptionally high. “Two years after the economy shut down due to the first wave of the coronavirus and millions of people lost their jobs, the nation's employment situation is now characterized by a shortage of workers,” CNN’s Anneken Tappe [wrote](. A year ago, about 18.4 million people were receiving some kind of unemployment assistance. As of March 19, that number stands at 1.72 million. --------------------------------------------------------------- Send your feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. 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