Commentary
Commentary
Blueprint for Education Reform Leaves out Choice
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared 2008 “The Year of Education Reform,” and more than halfway through the year, California parents continue to wait for promised relief. If the governor’s blueprint for reform is any indication, they may be waiting for a long time. Governor Schwarzenegger unveiled Students First: Renewing Hope for ...
Business & Economics
The North Carolina Business Court Is A “Model For the Nation”
North Carolina’s Business Court is a “model for the nation,” according to Directorship Magazine’s Annual Guide to State Litigation. In addition to complimenting the Business Court, the Annual Guide gave North Carolina’s litigation climate a green light, indicating that the “state’s liability climate encourages growth and job creation.” It gave ...
Commentary
The Doubt of the Benefit: Why State Benefit Mandates are a Poor Prescription for Health Insurance
A benefit mandate is a state law that commands a health plan to pay for, or at least offer, a specified treatment or type of provider, removing the benefit from negotiation between beneficiaries and health plans. For example, a mandate may require a health plan to cover treatment of alcoholism, ...
California
California’s Health Insurance Rescissions: Hospitals Get Their Pound of Flesh
Yesterday, I asked the quasi-rhetorical question: “Why did California’s campaign against Anthem Blue Cross collapse?”, addressing state regulators’ failure to collect a $1 million fine for Anthem Blue Cross’ allegedly illegal rescission of individuals’ policies. Well, it looks like it didn’t collapse: the hospitals have just wrangled over $11 million ...
California
Why Did California’s Campaign Against Anthem Blue Cross Collapse?
I have written a series of blog entries about California’s health care regulators attacking health plans for “rescission,” which the regulators have equated with “post-claims underwriting.” The former consists of revoking a policy because the beneficiary made a material misrepresentation about his health status on his application. The latter consists ...
Commentary
Hidden provision could endanger economy, civil liberties
As the Senate prepares to vote on the current housing legislation, I would like to bring to your attention a dangerous hidden provision that will burden several innovative Bay Area companies and threaten the civil liberties of all Americans. Senators Christopher Dodd and Richard Shelby quietly attached to H.R. 3221 ...
Climate Change
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators 2008
To borrow the blunt language of Generation X and the “Millennials,” Does the United States suck on the environment? This 13th edition of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators aims to address this question in a new and broader context. Contrary to the perception expressed in the epigraphs above, the ...
Commentary
Remedies tackle California’s remedial education program
Every year poorly prepared college students cost Californians some $14 billion in remedial education programs, according to a new report published by the Pacific Research Institute or PRI. The report “The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society,” argues that these direct and ...
Business & Economics
Turning POTS into PANS
The California Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday proposed relaxing 13-year-old price caps on basic telephone service. Yielding to the demands of public interest groups, regulators currently force telecommunications companies to offer the cheapest basic rates in the nation. Yet, if artificially low prices are necessary to protect consumer welfare, why ...
Commentary
AB 32 is a breath of foul air for taxpayers, businesses
California is in the midst of economic turmoil. Headlines shout daily about the plummeting dollar and home values, disappearing jobs, soaring fuel and food costs, and a growing massive state budget deficit. Apparently oblivious to the strain on California households, some state legislators are trying to rush implementation of a ...
Blueprint for Education Reform Leaves out Choice
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared 2008 “The Year of Education Reform,” and more than halfway through the year, California parents continue to wait for promised relief. If the governor’s blueprint for reform is any indication, they may be waiting for a long time. Governor Schwarzenegger unveiled Students First: Renewing Hope for ...
The North Carolina Business Court Is A “Model For the Nation”
North Carolina’s Business Court is a “model for the nation,” according to Directorship Magazine’s Annual Guide to State Litigation. In addition to complimenting the Business Court, the Annual Guide gave North Carolina’s litigation climate a green light, indicating that the “state’s liability climate encourages growth and job creation.” It gave ...
The Doubt of the Benefit: Why State Benefit Mandates are a Poor Prescription for Health Insurance
A benefit mandate is a state law that commands a health plan to pay for, or at least offer, a specified treatment or type of provider, removing the benefit from negotiation between beneficiaries and health plans. For example, a mandate may require a health plan to cover treatment of alcoholism, ...
California’s Health Insurance Rescissions: Hospitals Get Their Pound of Flesh
Yesterday, I asked the quasi-rhetorical question: “Why did California’s campaign against Anthem Blue Cross collapse?”, addressing state regulators’ failure to collect a $1 million fine for Anthem Blue Cross’ allegedly illegal rescission of individuals’ policies. Well, it looks like it didn’t collapse: the hospitals have just wrangled over $11 million ...
Why Did California’s Campaign Against Anthem Blue Cross Collapse?
I have written a series of blog entries about California’s health care regulators attacking health plans for “rescission,” which the regulators have equated with “post-claims underwriting.” The former consists of revoking a policy because the beneficiary made a material misrepresentation about his health status on his application. The latter consists ...
Hidden provision could endanger economy, civil liberties
As the Senate prepares to vote on the current housing legislation, I would like to bring to your attention a dangerous hidden provision that will burden several innovative Bay Area companies and threaten the civil liberties of all Americans. Senators Christopher Dodd and Richard Shelby quietly attached to H.R. 3221 ...
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators 2008
To borrow the blunt language of Generation X and the “Millennials,” Does the United States suck on the environment? This 13th edition of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators aims to address this question in a new and broader context. Contrary to the perception expressed in the epigraphs above, the ...
Remedies tackle California’s remedial education program
Every year poorly prepared college students cost Californians some $14 billion in remedial education programs, according to a new report published by the Pacific Research Institute or PRI. The report “The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society,” argues that these direct and ...
Turning POTS into PANS
The California Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday proposed relaxing 13-year-old price caps on basic telephone service. Yielding to the demands of public interest groups, regulators currently force telecommunications companies to offer the cheapest basic rates in the nation. Yet, if artificially low prices are necessary to protect consumer welfare, why ...
AB 32 is a breath of foul air for taxpayers, businesses
California is in the midst of economic turmoil. Headlines shout daily about the plummeting dollar and home values, disappearing jobs, soaring fuel and food costs, and a growing massive state budget deficit. Apparently oblivious to the strain on California households, some state legislators are trying to rush implementation of a ...
