The Perpetual Covid ‘Emergency’ – Wall Street Journal*

Now that Covid is endemic, why don’t legislatures permanently repeal or relax laws that restrict their citizens’ access to medical care? Mostly because powerful interest groups, including lobbies representing in-state healthcare professionals, oppose doing so. Illinois’s J.B. Pritzker has renewed his Covid-19 “disaster” proclamation every 30 dayssince the pandemic began, most recently on Feb. 4. Governors have another incentive to extend states of emergency: The Family First Coronavirus Act, enacted in March 2020, increased food-stamp benefits subject to states of emergency at the state and federal levels. This is one reason average food benefits nationwide have doubled during the pandemic.