The Health Policy War Room

Earlier this week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its latest bimonthly report to Congress on the status of the Federal Response to the COVID-19 pandemic . The GAO reviewed data from multiple sources including USAspending.gov, data obtained directly from agencies, Bloomberg, and other economic research groups. The GAO also developed health indicators that may be useful in continued measurement of response to this and future pandemics. The GAO found that over $2.2 trillion has been allocated for pandemic relief, of which agencies had obligated $1.5 trillion and recorded spending $1.3 trillion. Additionally, GAO found that more can be done to monitor the health care system's response to the pandemic, and they recommended four healthcare metrics that could be used to measure the system's ability to handle and react to emergencies. Finally, the GAO found that the economy is still weak, but appears to be improving with the help of the Federal Pandemic Response. T...