Commentary
California
Glazer Bill Would Begin to Move State Away from Pension Disaster
California was once defined by its natural beauty and milestones of human achievement. Today it’s known more for intractable problems, such as the public employee pension crisis. State and local governments have racked up nearly $1 trillion in pension debt. But because government employers have contributed only about 70 percent of what ...
Commentary
Don’t Fall for Single-Payer’s False Promises
Support for single-payer health care has reached an all-time high, according to Gallup. Seven in 10 Democratic voters — and one in three Republicans — favor a government takeover of the health sector. They should be careful what they wish for. Single-payer systems have failed everywhere they’ve been implemented, from ...
Commentary
Don’t Revive The Individual Mandate
Tax reform repealed Obamacare’s least popular provision, the individual mandate, starting in 2019. Now, at least nine states want to revive the mandate, which required all Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fine. Obamacare’s proponents claim that state-level individual mandates would compel young and healthy people to buy ...
Commentary
VA Health Care Is a Cautionary Tale Against Medicare-For-All
Army veteran Glenford Turner lived for nearly four years with a piece of razor-sharp metal in his abdomen. The object wasn’t shrapnel from the battlefield — it was a scalpel he alleges was left inside him during a 2013 surgery at a Connecticut Veterans Affairs hospital. Turner’s story, revealed in ...
California
High-Speed Rail is Now California’s Runaway Train
If it wasn’t before, California’s high-speed rail project is now a runaway train. Officials announced Friday that the project will cost $77.3 billion, roughly $13 billion more than the most recent forecast. Someone with political clout needs to hit the brakes. But it seems this is a project that has ...
Business & Economics
Strike The Right Regulatory Balance To Promote Generic Medicines And Future Innovation
Striking the right regulatory balance for pharmaceuticals is no easy task. On the one hand, policy should promote drug affordability by encouraging robust competition. On the other hand, policy should encourage future innovations by granting these drugs temporary market exclusivity. While these goals appear contradictory, the federal government’s drug approval ...
Commentary
The Constitution May Finally Catch Up With Obamacare
Obamacare’s future is once again in jeopardy, thanks to one of the law’s most stubborn opponents — the U.S. Constitution. Twenty states are suing the federal government in Texas on the grounds that, since Congress zeroed-out the penalty for the individual mandate, the law is no longer constitutional. They’re right. ...
Commentary
If You Like Waiting Hours For An Ambulance, You Might Like Single-Payer Health Care
“Hello, 911? I think I’m having a heart attack.” “We’ll send an ambulance to your address right away. It’ll be there in four hours. Good luck.” That’s the present reality for patients captive to the United Kingdom’s government-run, single-payer health care system. And it’s apparently what the progressives who have ...
Commentary
Medicare Drug Benefit is Weakened by Congressional Budget Deal
Congress has undermined the Medicare drug benefit that millions of older Americans depend on – one of the few federal health care programs that’s working well. The two-year federal budget deal passed recently shifts more of the program’s costs onto drug manufacturers starting in 2020. In the process, the change ...
Commentary
Subsidies for Electric Vehicles Favor the Wealthy
Electric vehicles are heavily subsidized by the federal, state, and local governments. Based on a study I just completed, the federal subsidies are worth over $42.7 billion to their recipients over the lifetime of the programs. They include the federal grant and loan programs for manufacturers, and the consumer tax credits worth $7,500 per ...
Glazer Bill Would Begin to Move State Away from Pension Disaster
California was once defined by its natural beauty and milestones of human achievement. Today it’s known more for intractable problems, such as the public employee pension crisis. State and local governments have racked up nearly $1 trillion in pension debt. But because government employers have contributed only about 70 percent of what ...
Don’t Fall for Single-Payer’s False Promises
Support for single-payer health care has reached an all-time high, according to Gallup. Seven in 10 Democratic voters — and one in three Republicans — favor a government takeover of the health sector. They should be careful what they wish for. Single-payer systems have failed everywhere they’ve been implemented, from ...
Don’t Revive The Individual Mandate
Tax reform repealed Obamacare’s least popular provision, the individual mandate, starting in 2019. Now, at least nine states want to revive the mandate, which required all Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fine. Obamacare’s proponents claim that state-level individual mandates would compel young and healthy people to buy ...
VA Health Care Is a Cautionary Tale Against Medicare-For-All
Army veteran Glenford Turner lived for nearly four years with a piece of razor-sharp metal in his abdomen. The object wasn’t shrapnel from the battlefield — it was a scalpel he alleges was left inside him during a 2013 surgery at a Connecticut Veterans Affairs hospital. Turner’s story, revealed in ...
High-Speed Rail is Now California’s Runaway Train
If it wasn’t before, California’s high-speed rail project is now a runaway train. Officials announced Friday that the project will cost $77.3 billion, roughly $13 billion more than the most recent forecast. Someone with political clout needs to hit the brakes. But it seems this is a project that has ...
Strike The Right Regulatory Balance To Promote Generic Medicines And Future Innovation
Striking the right regulatory balance for pharmaceuticals is no easy task. On the one hand, policy should promote drug affordability by encouraging robust competition. On the other hand, policy should encourage future innovations by granting these drugs temporary market exclusivity. While these goals appear contradictory, the federal government’s drug approval ...
The Constitution May Finally Catch Up With Obamacare
Obamacare’s future is once again in jeopardy, thanks to one of the law’s most stubborn opponents — the U.S. Constitution. Twenty states are suing the federal government in Texas on the grounds that, since Congress zeroed-out the penalty for the individual mandate, the law is no longer constitutional. They’re right. ...
If You Like Waiting Hours For An Ambulance, You Might Like Single-Payer Health Care
“Hello, 911? I think I’m having a heart attack.” “We’ll send an ambulance to your address right away. It’ll be there in four hours. Good luck.” That’s the present reality for patients captive to the United Kingdom’s government-run, single-payer health care system. And it’s apparently what the progressives who have ...
Medicare Drug Benefit is Weakened by Congressional Budget Deal
Congress has undermined the Medicare drug benefit that millions of older Americans depend on – one of the few federal health care programs that’s working well. The two-year federal budget deal passed recently shifts more of the program’s costs onto drug manufacturers starting in 2020. In the process, the change ...
Subsidies for Electric Vehicles Favor the Wealthy
Electric vehicles are heavily subsidized by the federal, state, and local governments. Based on a study I just completed, the federal subsidies are worth over $42.7 billion to their recipients over the lifetime of the programs. They include the federal grant and loan programs for manufacturers, and the consumer tax credits worth $7,500 per ...
