Commentary
Business & Economics
Old Boss or New Boss, state stem cell agency still a bust
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has chosen financier Jonathan Thomas as its new boss — but it matters little who runs the state stem-cell agency. The focus should be on results, and by that standard, Californians do not get what they paid for. Thomas, an investment banker schooled ...
California
California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries
Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
Business & Economics
The Truth About Energy Profits
America’s largest oil and natural gas companies recently reported quarterly earnings, and as expected, profits were up. But the caricature of fat-cat energy executives lining their pockets at the expense of the everyman doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. ExxonMobil posted quarterly earnings of $10.7 billion on Thursday, up 69 percent ...
Business & Economics
Big Government and Health-Care Stocks: A Happy Marriage?
Please read the entire column at Forbes.com: The Apothecary.
Commentary
Follow the State’s Lead to Better Medicaid
By any objective measure, Medicaid is a failure. It provides substandard care at an ever increasing cost to taxpayers. When a Republican Congress and a Democrat president worked together to end another failing program welfare as we knew it we achieved something rare in public policy: success. We ...
Business & Economics
Educated Legislators, Bad Economy
California has the most educated legislators, according to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education study. Those stellar academic credentials, unfortunately, have not lifted the state from its economic malaise. California’s unemployment rate, as of May, is nearly 12 percent, higher than every state in the bottom five of the study. ...
Business & Economics
Small-Business Health Care Tax Credits Are having a Miniscule Impact
The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council recently surveyed 304 small business owners about how satisfied they were with the new healthcare reform laws tax credits. Nearly 90% had not applied for the credits. Some had no idea they existed, others were deemed ineligible, and more than a fifth found that ...
Commentary
Washington’s Medicaid Reform Could Benefit Every State in the US
Its a short law with big potential: SB 5596, signed by Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire at the end of May, is only three pages long. Nevertheless, it puts Washington state on a path to Medicaid solvency and sets an example for California and the nation. Remarkably, the law, sponsored by ...
Commentary
Leavitt: Most States Won’t Have Exchanges By Deadline
My readers have known this since April 8. Read more here.
Commentary
Medicaid Mess-up
Last week, government officials discovered that up to 3 million middle-class Americans with annual incomes as high as $64,000 could qualify for Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, thanks to Obamacare. Medicares chief actuary, Richard Foster, summed the situation up nicely: [T]hat just doesnt make ...
Old Boss or New Boss, state stem cell agency still a bust
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has chosen financier Jonathan Thomas as its new boss — but it matters little who runs the state stem-cell agency. The focus should be on results, and by that standard, Californians do not get what they paid for. Thomas, an investment banker schooled ...
California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries
Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
The Truth About Energy Profits
America’s largest oil and natural gas companies recently reported quarterly earnings, and as expected, profits were up. But the caricature of fat-cat energy executives lining their pockets at the expense of the everyman doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. ExxonMobil posted quarterly earnings of $10.7 billion on Thursday, up 69 percent ...
Big Government and Health-Care Stocks: A Happy Marriage?
Please read the entire column at Forbes.com: The Apothecary.
Follow the State’s Lead to Better Medicaid
By any objective measure, Medicaid is a failure. It provides substandard care at an ever increasing cost to taxpayers. When a Republican Congress and a Democrat president worked together to end another failing program welfare as we knew it we achieved something rare in public policy: success. We ...
Educated Legislators, Bad Economy
California has the most educated legislators, according to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education study. Those stellar academic credentials, unfortunately, have not lifted the state from its economic malaise. California’s unemployment rate, as of May, is nearly 12 percent, higher than every state in the bottom five of the study. ...
Small-Business Health Care Tax Credits Are having a Miniscule Impact
The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council recently surveyed 304 small business owners about how satisfied they were with the new healthcare reform laws tax credits. Nearly 90% had not applied for the credits. Some had no idea they existed, others were deemed ineligible, and more than a fifth found that ...
Washington’s Medicaid Reform Could Benefit Every State in the US
Its a short law with big potential: SB 5596, signed by Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire at the end of May, is only three pages long. Nevertheless, it puts Washington state on a path to Medicaid solvency and sets an example for California and the nation. Remarkably, the law, sponsored by ...
Leavitt: Most States Won’t Have Exchanges By Deadline
My readers have known this since April 8. Read more here.
Medicaid Mess-up
Last week, government officials discovered that up to 3 million middle-class Americans with annual incomes as high as $64,000 could qualify for Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, thanks to Obamacare. Medicares chief actuary, Richard Foster, summed the situation up nicely: [T]hat just doesnt make ...
