Commentary
Business & Economics
Read an analysis of the 2024-25 CA proposed budget
Gov. Newsom’s proposed budget fails the moment
Governor Gavin Newsom is wrong. His proposed budget is not “resilient;” it demonstrates an inability to learn the lessons from California’s volatile budget history. The crippling deficit is merely one manifestation of the broader crisis. Newsom estimates a $37.9 billion deficit, about one-half of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office’s (LAO) ...
California
Is 2024 Finally The Year of a California Homebuilding Breakthrough?
On Jan. 1, a package of housing legislation that was passed in 2023 took effect. Will the results be a homebuilding boom? California’s housing gap is implausibly wide, so it’s going to require a historic effort to catch up. In 2015, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that “on top of ...
Commentary
Dear Governors: Just Say ‘No’ To Medicaid Expansion
Once upon a time, Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion seemed like a blue-state fantasy. But that’s hardly the case anymore. Today, 40 states and the District of Columbia have taken advantage of the Affordable Care Act’s move to open the program to able-bodied Americans with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level. Even ...
Commentary
House’s New Healthcare Reform Drags Medical Pricing to Sunlight
One of the most glaring deficiencies in America’s healthcare system is its lack of price transparency. For too long, the bottom-line price of everything from prescription drugs to MRI scans and in-patient medical procedures has remained a mystery to most consumers. This is no accident. By obscuring this information, providers, ...
Commentary
The Rising Costs From Monopoly Utilities And Excessive Energy Mandates
The onset of Winter is once again highlighting the electric grid’s declining reliability. But unlike the cold Winter, a less reliable grid is not inevitable. It is a self-inflicted problem caused by monopoly electricity providers and growing renewable energy mandates that thwart competitive power markets. Instead of creating incentives to ...
Commentary
How Obamacare tax credits spike premiums
For the health insurance industry, Obamacare open enrollment, which started last month, is the most wonderful time of the year. Millions of Americans are signing up for plans on the exchanges. Each click of the “submit” button adds a fistful more dollars to insurers’ bottom line. Open enrollment comes complete with tax credits ...
Commentary
New Report Confirms: Left’s Health Policy Is Malignant
Earlier this month, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released new data on the state of U.S. health spending. The agency’s report offers a chilling diagnosis of the challenges facing the U.S. health system. It also reveals just how misguided the Democrats’ health policy agenda has been ...
Commentary
Government run health care won’t improve life expectancy
Between 2021 and 2022, U.S. life expectancy jumped more than 12 months, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An American born today can now expect to live 77.5 years — up from 76.4 in 2021. Predictably, this good news didn’t register with progressives working ...
Commentary
Canadian Health Care Leaves Patients Frozen In Line
More than one-fourth of Americans receive taxpayer-funded health coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to the latest federal estimates. But that “free” coverage has a significant cost. Medicaid beneficiaries must wait longer for care than those with private insurance. A study from 2021 found that Medicaid patients waited 1.3 ...
Commentary
Medicaid spending is on the rise — progressive policies are to blame
Medicaid expenditures totaled more than $805 billion in 2022, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That’s a 9.6% increase compared with 2021. The data are the latest indication of just how big Medicaid has become. And that’s no accident. For years, progressives have advanced policies that have nudged millions more ...
Read an analysis of the 2024-25 CA proposed budget
Gov. Newsom’s proposed budget fails the moment
Governor Gavin Newsom is wrong. His proposed budget is not “resilient;” it demonstrates an inability to learn the lessons from California’s volatile budget history. The crippling deficit is merely one manifestation of the broader crisis. Newsom estimates a $37.9 billion deficit, about one-half of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office’s (LAO) ...
Is 2024 Finally The Year of a California Homebuilding Breakthrough?
On Jan. 1, a package of housing legislation that was passed in 2023 took effect. Will the results be a homebuilding boom? California’s housing gap is implausibly wide, so it’s going to require a historic effort to catch up. In 2015, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that “on top of ...
Dear Governors: Just Say ‘No’ To Medicaid Expansion
Once upon a time, Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion seemed like a blue-state fantasy. But that’s hardly the case anymore. Today, 40 states and the District of Columbia have taken advantage of the Affordable Care Act’s move to open the program to able-bodied Americans with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level. Even ...
House’s New Healthcare Reform Drags Medical Pricing to Sunlight
One of the most glaring deficiencies in America’s healthcare system is its lack of price transparency. For too long, the bottom-line price of everything from prescription drugs to MRI scans and in-patient medical procedures has remained a mystery to most consumers. This is no accident. By obscuring this information, providers, ...
The Rising Costs From Monopoly Utilities And Excessive Energy Mandates
The onset of Winter is once again highlighting the electric grid’s declining reliability. But unlike the cold Winter, a less reliable grid is not inevitable. It is a self-inflicted problem caused by monopoly electricity providers and growing renewable energy mandates that thwart competitive power markets. Instead of creating incentives to ...
How Obamacare tax credits spike premiums
For the health insurance industry, Obamacare open enrollment, which started last month, is the most wonderful time of the year. Millions of Americans are signing up for plans on the exchanges. Each click of the “submit” button adds a fistful more dollars to insurers’ bottom line. Open enrollment comes complete with tax credits ...
New Report Confirms: Left’s Health Policy Is Malignant
Earlier this month, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released new data on the state of U.S. health spending. The agency’s report offers a chilling diagnosis of the challenges facing the U.S. health system. It also reveals just how misguided the Democrats’ health policy agenda has been ...
Government run health care won’t improve life expectancy
Between 2021 and 2022, U.S. life expectancy jumped more than 12 months, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An American born today can now expect to live 77.5 years — up from 76.4 in 2021. Predictably, this good news didn’t register with progressives working ...
Canadian Health Care Leaves Patients Frozen In Line
More than one-fourth of Americans receive taxpayer-funded health coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to the latest federal estimates. But that “free” coverage has a significant cost. Medicaid beneficiaries must wait longer for care than those with private insurance. A study from 2021 found that Medicaid patients waited 1.3 ...
Medicaid spending is on the rise — progressive policies are to blame
Medicaid expenditures totaled more than $805 billion in 2022, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That’s a 9.6% increase compared with 2021. The data are the latest indication of just how big Medicaid has become. And that’s no accident. For years, progressives have advanced policies that have nudged millions more ...
