Pacific Research Institute

The Benefits of Charter Schools – Choosing Diversity

March 25, 2019

Education

Every day, charter schools play an important role in meeting the diverse needs of California’s students. PRI’s Lance Izumi, Fortune School CEO Margaret Fortune, and EdVoice’s Bill Lucia share real-life charter school success stories and explore ideas policymakers can embrace to expand school choice...

California Leads the Nation in Bringing Back Medieval Illnesses

March 21, 2019

California

Victor Davis Hanson pointed out some years ago that California ignored its premodern problems while dreaming of postmodern marvels such as high-speed rail. There’s no better example of a premodern problem that’s been allowed to take root and thrive than the Medieval diseases now plaguing...

Keep counterfeit drugs out of Florida

March 20, 2019

Healthcare

Florida's House budget panel this week greenlit a bill that would allow the state to buy drugs from Canada. Lawmakers are poised to debate a companion bill in the Senate in the coming weeks. If the bill becomes law, officials would almost certainly need permission from...

A $44,000 Surgery Can Cost Just $16,000 Somewhere Else for One Reason: Competition

March 20, 2019

Healthcare

A hip replacement in Maine can run north of $44,000. Down the coast in Boston, it's a different story. There, the same procedure costs just more than $16,000, a fraction of the price. Knee surgeries follow the same pattern. They cost up to $13,500 in Maine,...

Here’s a prescription for mid-sized businesses providing workers with health care

March 19, 2019

Healthcare

Small businesses and large corporations have been spared some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations. Small firms are exempt from the employer mandate requiring them to offer coverage. Large ones don’t have to adhere to the law’s essential health benefits mandates. Mid-sized businesses haven’t been so lucky....

Don’t Scapegoat Charter Schools For School Districts’ Fiscal Woes

March 19, 2019

Education

Governor Gavin Newsom’s move to have State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond create an expert panel to review the financial impact of charter schools on regular public schools, and put out a report by July, smells like an attempt to scapegoat charter schools. First, comments...

Across the Country, Unions are Waging War on Charter Schools

March 18, 2019

Education

A combination of powerful aggressive teacher unions and compliant state and local politicians have produced a perfect storm that threatens to destroy the future of charter schools and the children who benefit from them. Charter schools are publicly funded schools independent of school districts, which have...

Medicare for All Won’t Result in Better Health Outcomes

March 18, 2019

Healthcare

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker claims Medicare for All would "save lives." Vermont's own Senator Bernie Sanders promises it would end "the disgrace of tens of thousands of Americans dying every year from preventable deaths." But a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds little evidence to support those...

Desperately Seeking a Reformer to Head the FDA

March 14, 2019

Healthcare

Federal regulation affects our lives every day in more ways than we realize. The Food and Drug Administration alone regulates products that account for more than a trillion dollars annually—25 cents of every consumer dollar; and the average cost (including out-of-pocket expenses and opportunity costs)...

Green New Deal would cause a new Depression

March 13, 2019

Environment

Democrat firebrands Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey just unveiled their “Green New Deal,” a multi-trillion-dollar effort to overhaul the energy industry and slash America’s net greenhouse gas emissions to zero within a decade. The legislation’s title is fitting. The original New Deal failed to...