Commentary
Commentary
What’s Really at Stake in the Supreme Court Obamacare Challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to issue its ruling in California v. Texas, the latest case challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, later this month. The conventional wisdom holds that the high court will uphold the law. But that’s no sure thing. Regardless of what the court decides, Obamacare has failed on ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 9, 2021
Blackouts
Competitive Energy Markets, Not Monopoly, Delivers Affordable, Reliable, And Low-Emission Energy
Texas’ energy debacle during this past winter has led to a great deal of introspection regarding which energy market structure is the most appropriate. Most analysts would agree that energy market regulations should facilitate access to affordable and reliable electricity, while generating the lowest feasible emissions. The controversy arises with ...
Wayne Winegarden
June 7, 2021
Commentary
The White House Continues Its Campaign To Deny People Insurance Choices
The Biden administration is continuing its onslaught against health plans that don’t have their seal of approval. At a congressional hearing last month, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra agreed with Rep. Kathy Castor’s, D-Fla., characterization of short-term health plans as “junk” insurance—and promised to scrutinize a Trump-era rule ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 7, 2021
Charter Schools
CTA and Democratic allies move to torpedo charter schools
While many California school districts have floundered during the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats in the California Legislature are taking aim again at charter schools, which are among the few remaining school-choice options available for parents dissatisfied with the regular public schools. AB 1316, authored by Assembly education committee chair Patrick O’Donnell, ...
Lance Izumi
June 2, 2021
Commentary
Democrats Ask All the Wrong Questions About the Public Option
The public option is back on the congressional docket. Last week, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., the head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who helms the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued an open request for information on how to implement a ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 2, 2021
Commentary
Telemedicine is here to stay
This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced bills that could preserve access to telehealth for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries beyond the pandemic. The House measure would allow Medicare beneficiaries to continue receiving “audio-only” remote care — that is, by phone. The Senate bill would direct the federal government to come ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 28, 2021
Commentary
Medicare Expansion: A Gift to the Relatively Wealthy
President Joe Biden’s ambitious proposals to reduce Medicare’s eligibility age to 60 may not be the gift to older Americans that its supporters believe it to be. That’s the core finding of a new analysis from Avalere, a consultancy. The report concluded that lower-income adults would likely have to pay more for ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 26, 2021
Commentary
Government Health Insurance: An Offer Businesses Should Refuse
Executives at many large corporations want the government to take on a greater role providing health coverage and controlling costs, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey. That seems to indicate big business is sympathetic to the core of the Democrats’ healthcare agenda, including the idea of a public option ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 25, 2021
California
$12 billion to house the homeless, but ‘housing first’ doesn’t work
The governor has plans to spend an extraordinary sum of public money on the homeless, most of which would be used to put them up in hotels. Sounds compassionate. But it’s another empty promise. Housing-first policy is indistinguishable from housing-and-nothing-else. Part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $100 billion “California Comeback Plan” ...
Kerry Jackson
May 20, 2021
Commentary
Insuring more Americans’ health shouldn’t require big government spending
President Joe Biden announced late last month that he plans to permanently expand health-insurance subsidies as part of his $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan.” This new spending would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. The vast majority of uninsured Americans already has access to discounted health plans. But for a ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 17, 2021
What’s Really at Stake in the Supreme Court Obamacare Challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to issue its ruling in California v. Texas, the latest case challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, later this month. The conventional wisdom holds that the high court will uphold the law. But that’s no sure thing. Regardless of what the court decides, Obamacare has failed on ...
Competitive Energy Markets, Not Monopoly, Delivers Affordable, Reliable, And Low-Emission Energy
Texas’ energy debacle during this past winter has led to a great deal of introspection regarding which energy market structure is the most appropriate. Most analysts would agree that energy market regulations should facilitate access to affordable and reliable electricity, while generating the lowest feasible emissions. The controversy arises with ...
The White House Continues Its Campaign To Deny People Insurance Choices
The Biden administration is continuing its onslaught against health plans that don’t have their seal of approval. At a congressional hearing last month, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra agreed with Rep. Kathy Castor’s, D-Fla., characterization of short-term health plans as “junk” insurance—and promised to scrutinize a Trump-era rule ...
CTA and Democratic allies move to torpedo charter schools
While many California school districts have floundered during the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats in the California Legislature are taking aim again at charter schools, which are among the few remaining school-choice options available for parents dissatisfied with the regular public schools. AB 1316, authored by Assembly education committee chair Patrick O’Donnell, ...
Democrats Ask All the Wrong Questions About the Public Option
The public option is back on the congressional docket. Last week, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., the head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who helms the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued an open request for information on how to implement a ...
Telemedicine is here to stay
This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced bills that could preserve access to telehealth for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries beyond the pandemic. The House measure would allow Medicare beneficiaries to continue receiving “audio-only” remote care — that is, by phone. The Senate bill would direct the federal government to come ...
Medicare Expansion: A Gift to the Relatively Wealthy
President Joe Biden’s ambitious proposals to reduce Medicare’s eligibility age to 60 may not be the gift to older Americans that its supporters believe it to be. That’s the core finding of a new analysis from Avalere, a consultancy. The report concluded that lower-income adults would likely have to pay more for ...
Government Health Insurance: An Offer Businesses Should Refuse
Executives at many large corporations want the government to take on a greater role providing health coverage and controlling costs, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey. That seems to indicate big business is sympathetic to the core of the Democrats’ healthcare agenda, including the idea of a public option ...
$12 billion to house the homeless, but ‘housing first’ doesn’t work
The governor has plans to spend an extraordinary sum of public money on the homeless, most of which would be used to put them up in hotels. Sounds compassionate. But it’s another empty promise. Housing-first policy is indistinguishable from housing-and-nothing-else. Part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $100 billion “California Comeback Plan” ...
Insuring more Americans’ health shouldn’t require big government spending
President Joe Biden announced late last month that he plans to permanently expand health-insurance subsidies as part of his $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan.” This new spending would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. The vast majority of uninsured Americans already has access to discounted health plans. But for a ...