Commentary
Commentary
High-risk pools: the life jacket U.S. health care needs
Obamacare guarantees all Americans health insurance. But it doesn’t guarantee that coverage will be affordable. That’s becoming a bit of a problem. This year, premiums were up an average of 8 percent. In many states, double-digit premium hikes were the norm. Next year, they’re likely to be even bigger, according ...
Commentary
Learning from past mistakes in the fight against Zika
It would seem that being an environmentalist these days increasingly means raising alarms about theoretical dangers at the cost of ignoring a clear and present peril. Look no further than democratic opposition in the Congress – and a veto threat by the president — to legislation that would address the ...
Business & Economics
Proposed Regulatory Expansion Threatens The Education Market
The federal government has taken over the student loan market and currently guarantees (or directly holds) about 90 percent of the 40 million student loans valued in excess of $1.2 trillion. The millions of people at risk of defaulting on this huge student loan portfolio is a large and growing ...
Agriculture
Water Markets May Help California Better Manage Its Water
California’s famous moniker – the Golden State – is becoming all too accurate as the state enters the fifth year of drought and the summer heat begins to dry out its rolling hillsides. A lackluster El Niño failed to deliver a promised deluge of rain and ultimately brought only an ...
California
The high price of “cheap” drugs
California is losing the battle against opioid addiction. Every 45 minutes, someone in the Golden State overdoses. Fifty percent more people overdose today than in 2006. Fortunately, the Food and Drug Administration just approved the anti-addiction treatment Probuphine. It’s an implant placed in a person’s upper arm, where it releases ...
Commentary
The GOP’s Obamacare Replacement: Better Than Good
Last week, the GOP kept a promise to the American people by delivering a replacement plan for Obamacare. The plan — part of the party’s “A Better Way” campaign — was unveiled by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc. “What we are laying out today is a first-time-in-six-years consensus by the ...
Commentary
Empowering Frivolous Healthcare Litigation Does Not Help Patients
Of all the problems troubling the U.S. healthcare system, too little litigation is not one of them. And yet, the “Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act of 2016” (CREATES Act), which is currently being rushed through Congress, takes just such an approach. If implemented, the CREATES Act ...
Commentary
Latest Obamacare Casualty? The Constitution
A federal judge recently ruled that the Obama administration violated the Constitution by spending $7 billion on subsidies for insurance companies without Congress’s permission. Worse still, the administration knew all along that it was flouting the law. If the ruling is upheld, Americans will face higher premiums and fewer choices ...
California
Vergara Decision: Remember the Children the Court Forgot
In 2014, California Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu ruled that the state’s teacher tenure, layoff and dismissal laws violated the state’s constitutional guarantee of a quality education for every student. Judge Treu based his decision on compelling trial testimony, much of it from students, which he said, “shocks the conscience.” ...
Business & Economics
By Killing Off Ride-Sharing, Austin Puts It In Reverse
“Keep Austin Weird” is a slogan dreamed up by the Texas city’s independent business alliance to promote local businesses and to keep national corporations out of the city. By recently regulating ride-sharing companies out of business, Austin became more than just weird — it’s now perfectly unique. The supposed tech ...
High-risk pools: the life jacket U.S. health care needs
Obamacare guarantees all Americans health insurance. But it doesn’t guarantee that coverage will be affordable. That’s becoming a bit of a problem. This year, premiums were up an average of 8 percent. In many states, double-digit premium hikes were the norm. Next year, they’re likely to be even bigger, according ...
Learning from past mistakes in the fight against Zika
It would seem that being an environmentalist these days increasingly means raising alarms about theoretical dangers at the cost of ignoring a clear and present peril. Look no further than democratic opposition in the Congress – and a veto threat by the president — to legislation that would address the ...
Proposed Regulatory Expansion Threatens The Education Market
The federal government has taken over the student loan market and currently guarantees (or directly holds) about 90 percent of the 40 million student loans valued in excess of $1.2 trillion. The millions of people at risk of defaulting on this huge student loan portfolio is a large and growing ...
Water Markets May Help California Better Manage Its Water
California’s famous moniker – the Golden State – is becoming all too accurate as the state enters the fifth year of drought and the summer heat begins to dry out its rolling hillsides. A lackluster El Niño failed to deliver a promised deluge of rain and ultimately brought only an ...
The high price of “cheap” drugs
California is losing the battle against opioid addiction. Every 45 minutes, someone in the Golden State overdoses. Fifty percent more people overdose today than in 2006. Fortunately, the Food and Drug Administration just approved the anti-addiction treatment Probuphine. It’s an implant placed in a person’s upper arm, where it releases ...
The GOP’s Obamacare Replacement: Better Than Good
Last week, the GOP kept a promise to the American people by delivering a replacement plan for Obamacare. The plan — part of the party’s “A Better Way” campaign — was unveiled by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc. “What we are laying out today is a first-time-in-six-years consensus by the ...
Empowering Frivolous Healthcare Litigation Does Not Help Patients
Of all the problems troubling the U.S. healthcare system, too little litigation is not one of them. And yet, the “Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act of 2016” (CREATES Act), which is currently being rushed through Congress, takes just such an approach. If implemented, the CREATES Act ...
Latest Obamacare Casualty? The Constitution
A federal judge recently ruled that the Obama administration violated the Constitution by spending $7 billion on subsidies for insurance companies without Congress’s permission. Worse still, the administration knew all along that it was flouting the law. If the ruling is upheld, Americans will face higher premiums and fewer choices ...
Vergara Decision: Remember the Children the Court Forgot
In 2014, California Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu ruled that the state’s teacher tenure, layoff and dismissal laws violated the state’s constitutional guarantee of a quality education for every student. Judge Treu based his decision on compelling trial testimony, much of it from students, which he said, “shocks the conscience.” ...
By Killing Off Ride-Sharing, Austin Puts It In Reverse
“Keep Austin Weird” is a slogan dreamed up by the Texas city’s independent business alliance to promote local businesses and to keep national corporations out of the city. By recently regulating ride-sharing companies out of business, Austin became more than just weird — it’s now perfectly unique. The supposed tech ...
