Studies
Health Care
Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?
San Francisco—The continuous expansion of Medi-Cal long-term care benefits could cause a financial catastrophe in California according to a new report by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based think tank, in cooperation with the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?, by Stephen A. ...
Health Care
The End of the “Individual Mandate” Is Not the End of Obamacare
Last month Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli successfully argued that the so-called individual mandate in Obamacare was outside congressional competence. Advocates of individual choice in health care cheered a significant victory, but this is not the final judicial word on Obamacare. U.S. District judge Henry E. Hudson ruled that the ...
Health Care
Medi-Cal Long-Term Care
Executive Summary Download Full Study Here. Watch the Video Here.* Long-term care is very expensive, whether provided in a nursing home, an assisted living facility, or in someone’s home. Medi-Cal pays for most professional long-term care in California. It covers 65 percent of nursing home residents and ranks third in ...
Business & Economics
Going Down Swinging in 2010
Here at the Contrarian we would be lax in our duties if we ignored the sporting world. Our readers will recall that we took notice of Billy-Jean King, still crowing about her 1973 win over Bobby Riggs, a washed-up player old enough to be her father. We also noted that ...
Commentary
Demography Is Still Not Destiny
Florida ’s low-income, Hispanic, and black fourth graders now outperform all California fourth graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment according to a policy brief released today by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based think tank. Demography is Still Not Destiny attributes this striking gap ...
Education
Lessons from Florida for California’s New Legislators
California’s new state education boss, Tom Torlakson, has his work cut out for him. He might start by explaining to parents why Florida, a demographically similar state, continues to outpace California in student achievement. On that score the Golden State still sputters around the bottom of national rankings. California apologists ...
Commentary
Should Your State Establish an Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange?
Obamacare is unpopular, unwieldy, expensive, likely unconstitutional, and will shortly be a prime target for repeal. Obamacare is unpopular, unwieldy, expensive, likely unconstitutional, and will shortly be a prime target for repeal. And the worst is yet to come: Obamacare expects states to do much of the law’s dirty work. ...
Health Care
Beyond ObamaCare: The Ninth and Tenth Amendments and the “Right to Health Care”
Key Points: Libertarians and conservatives need not fear a “right to health care,” because defining such a right prevents ObamaCare and similar federal interference, according to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. A number of legislators and attorneys general have decided to challenge ObamaCare on constitutional grounds, citing the Tenth Amendment, ...
Agriculture
Is Your Food Making the Planet Sick?
Modern agriculture has been blamed for a host of environmental problems, including global warming, water pollution, and ecosystem damage. While growing crops and raising livestock does have significant environmental impact, in many cases the situation has been misrepresented or oversimplified, and some of the proposed solutions have been ineffective or ...
Business & Economics
Costs and Consequences: Rate-of-Return Biases, Rate Suppression, and Market Incentives for Quality in Property/Casualty Insurance Regulation
The imposition of legal and regulatory constraints on market pricesprice controls, or rate suppression in the case of the property/casualty insurance marketis an important tool with which public officials can effect wealth transfers among groups and economic sectors. Rate suppression can take the form of allowed rates too low to ...
Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?
San Francisco—The continuous expansion of Medi-Cal long-term care benefits could cause a financial catastrophe in California according to a new report by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based think tank, in cooperation with the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?, by Stephen A. ...
The End of the “Individual Mandate” Is Not the End of Obamacare
Last month Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli successfully argued that the so-called individual mandate in Obamacare was outside congressional competence. Advocates of individual choice in health care cheered a significant victory, but this is not the final judicial word on Obamacare. U.S. District judge Henry E. Hudson ruled that the ...
Medi-Cal Long-Term Care
Executive Summary Download Full Study Here. Watch the Video Here.* Long-term care is very expensive, whether provided in a nursing home, an assisted living facility, or in someone’s home. Medi-Cal pays for most professional long-term care in California. It covers 65 percent of nursing home residents and ranks third in ...
Going Down Swinging in 2010
Here at the Contrarian we would be lax in our duties if we ignored the sporting world. Our readers will recall that we took notice of Billy-Jean King, still crowing about her 1973 win over Bobby Riggs, a washed-up player old enough to be her father. We also noted that ...
Demography Is Still Not Destiny
Florida ’s low-income, Hispanic, and black fourth graders now outperform all California fourth graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment according to a policy brief released today by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based think tank. Demography is Still Not Destiny attributes this striking gap ...
Lessons from Florida for California’s New Legislators
California’s new state education boss, Tom Torlakson, has his work cut out for him. He might start by explaining to parents why Florida, a demographically similar state, continues to outpace California in student achievement. On that score the Golden State still sputters around the bottom of national rankings. California apologists ...
Should Your State Establish an Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange?
Obamacare is unpopular, unwieldy, expensive, likely unconstitutional, and will shortly be a prime target for repeal. Obamacare is unpopular, unwieldy, expensive, likely unconstitutional, and will shortly be a prime target for repeal. And the worst is yet to come: Obamacare expects states to do much of the law’s dirty work. ...
Beyond ObamaCare: The Ninth and Tenth Amendments and the “Right to Health Care”
Key Points: Libertarians and conservatives need not fear a “right to health care,” because defining such a right prevents ObamaCare and similar federal interference, according to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. A number of legislators and attorneys general have decided to challenge ObamaCare on constitutional grounds, citing the Tenth Amendment, ...
Is Your Food Making the Planet Sick?
Modern agriculture has been blamed for a host of environmental problems, including global warming, water pollution, and ecosystem damage. While growing crops and raising livestock does have significant environmental impact, in many cases the situation has been misrepresented or oversimplified, and some of the proposed solutions have been ineffective or ...
Costs and Consequences: Rate-of-Return Biases, Rate Suppression, and Market Incentives for Quality in Property/Casualty Insurance Regulation
The imposition of legal and regulatory constraints on market pricesprice controls, or rate suppression in the case of the property/casualty insurance marketis an important tool with which public officials can effect wealth transfers among groups and economic sectors. Rate suppression can take the form of allowed rates too low to ...
