Commentary
Commentary
Massachusetts’ Underwhelming Health “Reform”
Massachusetts’ health care leaders continue to believe that they can solve problems by just ordering them to go away. The first step in this was the April 2006 Commonwealth Connector reform signed by Governor Romney, which simply commanded people to buy health insurance, and fined them if they did not. ...
Commentary
Questions on healthcare reform
Healthcare reform will be front-and-center in the presidential debates. It’s a topic that’s full of complicated issues, so it can be hard to cut through all the rhetoric and figure out exactly what each candidate is proposing. So here’s the skinny on five questions that you’ll likely hear many times ...
Business & Economics
The Canadianization of America
Here comes ‘no-vote’ unionism In Canada, worrying about being Americanized is a national pastime, particularly in political and media circles. It seldom occurred to me the United States could become Canadianized until I moved here, in an election year, no less, and found Americans obsessed with many Canadian ideas at ...
Commentary
Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Promises Positive Reform
Last month, I made encouraging remarks to the Heartland Institute’s outstanding monthly Health Care News about Rhode Island governor Carcieri’s evolving proposal to reform Medicaid. Well, the proposal is fully formed, and the state has just submitted its application for a waiver to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ...
Commentary
Since tonight’s debate won’t talk education…
Since tonight’s debate won’t talk education… …I will. It’s a safe bet that education won’t be a big part of tonight’s presidential debate, so if you need to ponder what an McCain or Obama administration should or could do, two NY Times blog entries from earlier this week have some ...
Commentary
McCain, Obama Spar on Education
The campaigns of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama engaged in a sharp and testy exchange on education last week, making the topic the center of debate for the first time since the long race for the presidency began. Neither candidate changed course on the policies he is promising ...
Business & Economics
Future of Fannie and Freddie remains unclear
The federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently could create the opening many have long hoped for – to alter, diminish or eliminate the roles of the government-sponsored mortgage giants. Some industry observers worry that a world in which the companies have less influence will mean more expensive ...
Business & Economics
Let the markets find their own recovery
The takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, yet another expansion in government intervention from the Bush administration, could end up costing hundreds of billions of dollars and in the long run will only make the U.S. financial crisis worse. The costs of the takeover are scary. By ...
Business & Economics
California Health Insurance Rescissions: Trial Lawyers Lose Out?
I’ve written a lot about the political gyrations around California health plans “rescinding” policies of individual policyholders. (Most recent post in the thread here.) A refresher: regulators, legislators, and the media piled onto the plans for “post-claims underwriting”. That is, plans asked overly complicated questions on the applications, wrote the ...
Commentary
Why No SCHIP Vote This Fall? Because It’s Expanding Without It
Between last September and December, State Policy Network bloggers invested a lot fighting Congress’ irresponsible effort to drive more kids out of health plans that their parents (or at least their parent’s employers) choose, and into government-controlled programs (SCHIP), by increasing the Federal Poverty Line cut-off under which kids qualify ...
Massachusetts’ Underwhelming Health “Reform”
Massachusetts’ health care leaders continue to believe that they can solve problems by just ordering them to go away. The first step in this was the April 2006 Commonwealth Connector reform signed by Governor Romney, which simply commanded people to buy health insurance, and fined them if they did not. ...
Questions on healthcare reform
Healthcare reform will be front-and-center in the presidential debates. It’s a topic that’s full of complicated issues, so it can be hard to cut through all the rhetoric and figure out exactly what each candidate is proposing. So here’s the skinny on five questions that you’ll likely hear many times ...
The Canadianization of America
Here comes ‘no-vote’ unionism In Canada, worrying about being Americanized is a national pastime, particularly in political and media circles. It seldom occurred to me the United States could become Canadianized until I moved here, in an election year, no less, and found Americans obsessed with many Canadian ideas at ...
Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Promises Positive Reform
Last month, I made encouraging remarks to the Heartland Institute’s outstanding monthly Health Care News about Rhode Island governor Carcieri’s evolving proposal to reform Medicaid. Well, the proposal is fully formed, and the state has just submitted its application for a waiver to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ...
Since tonight’s debate won’t talk education…
Since tonight’s debate won’t talk education… …I will. It’s a safe bet that education won’t be a big part of tonight’s presidential debate, so if you need to ponder what an McCain or Obama administration should or could do, two NY Times blog entries from earlier this week have some ...
McCain, Obama Spar on Education
The campaigns of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama engaged in a sharp and testy exchange on education last week, making the topic the center of debate for the first time since the long race for the presidency began. Neither candidate changed course on the policies he is promising ...
Future of Fannie and Freddie remains unclear
The federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently could create the opening many have long hoped for – to alter, diminish or eliminate the roles of the government-sponsored mortgage giants. Some industry observers worry that a world in which the companies have less influence will mean more expensive ...
Let the markets find their own recovery
The takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, yet another expansion in government intervention from the Bush administration, could end up costing hundreds of billions of dollars and in the long run will only make the U.S. financial crisis worse. The costs of the takeover are scary. By ...
California Health Insurance Rescissions: Trial Lawyers Lose Out?
I’ve written a lot about the political gyrations around California health plans “rescinding” policies of individual policyholders. (Most recent post in the thread here.) A refresher: regulators, legislators, and the media piled onto the plans for “post-claims underwriting”. That is, plans asked overly complicated questions on the applications, wrote the ...
Why No SCHIP Vote This Fall? Because It’s Expanding Without It
Between last September and December, State Policy Network bloggers invested a lot fighting Congress’ irresponsible effort to drive more kids out of health plans that their parents (or at least their parent’s employers) choose, and into government-controlled programs (SCHIP), by increasing the Federal Poverty Line cut-off under which kids qualify ...
