Today I gave virtual testimony to the Joint Economic Committee on the above topic, along with physician and public health expert Ashish Jha, and economists Austan Goolsbee and Adam Michel.

The event was livestreamed. My oral testimony starts at around 36:20. I then took questions from members of the committee.

I focused on the regulatory obstacles that impeded a rapid response to the pandemic, on the federal as well as the state level. I argued that we should learn from these mistakes and implement reforms to the federal government’s drug, test, and medical device approval process. I also called for action on the state and federal level to break down the barriers to health care access that have been put in place by health care licensing laws and state Certificate of Need laws.

You can read my written testimony here.