Studies
Education
Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida consistently ...
Vicki E. Murray
August 7, 2008
Health Care
Unbalanced Billing In California Hospitals: Is This A Problem the State Can Solve By Getting Out of the Way?
Imagine if you bought an airline ticket to fly from San Francisco to Chicago and after the flight you received an extra bill from the co-pilot for what he claims is a fair price for his services. He is unsatisfied with the airline’s pay, and would like you and your ...
John R. Graham
July 23, 2008
Education
The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society
More than a decade ago, in 1996, the California State University (CSU) trustees adopted a policy to reduce the need for remediation to no more than 10 percent of incoming freshmen by 2007. In 1998, the state outlawed K12 social promotion, requiring schools to retain any student performing below grade-level ...
Vicki E. Murray
July 21, 2008
Health Care
State Health Benefit Mandates Increase the Number of Uninsured
San Francisco, July 1, 2008 – The Pacific Research Institute today released the findings of a new report reviewing the impact of state benefit mandates on the uninsured. According to From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance, benefit mandates increase health insurance ...
Pacific Research Institute
July 1, 2008
Health Care
From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance
A benefit mandate is simply a state law that requires a health plan to pay for (or at least offer) a specified treatment, but there is nothing simple about quantifying the costs of such mandates. This paper reviews 28 original actuarial and econometric articles that attempt to estimate the cost ...
John R. Graham
July 1, 2008
Health Care
From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates
PRI released a new paper today, which examines one critical area where states interfere in residents’ ability to buy health insurance of their choosing. According to From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance, benefit mandates increase health insurance premiums, reduce wages, increase ...
John R. Graham
July 1, 2008
Business & Economics
Letter to Senators Feinstein and Boxer regarding (S. Amdt. 4983) amendment to H.R. 3221
The Honorable Diane Feinstein United States Senate 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Barbara Boxer United States Senate 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer: As the Senate prepares to vote on the current housing legislation, I would like to ...
Daniel R. Ballon
June 27, 2008
Health Care
Medicare Means Testing: Test the Deductible, Not the Premium
The looming insolvency of Medicare is disappointingly absent from the list of policy issues on the carte du jour for the November general election. Fortunately, the current Administration recognizes the clear and present danger of Medicare insolvency. “Time is running out. Medicare is drifting toward disaster,”1 said U.S. Secretary of ...
John R. Graham
June 24, 2008
Education
How California Can Graduate More Students: The Arizona Example
On June 5, Education Week released Diplomas Count 2008: School to College. The report finds that three in 10 students who enroll in California public high schools fail to graduate. The statistics mask a more dismal reality, but there is a way the Golden State can improve. The results of ...
Ian Randolph
June 18, 2008
Business & Economics
Bye Bye Nerdy! Congress Slams the Door on California’s Scientists and Engineers
On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will consider a proposal by Silicon Valley Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren to end restrictions on the most critical resource driving technological innovation. This resource is human talent, and with the greatest public university system in the world, California should be fertile ground. Due to arbitrary ...
Daniel R. Ballon
June 11, 2008
Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, today released a report showing that a disadvantaged socio-economic background does not necessarily consign students to poor academic performance. According to Demography Is Not Destiny: Reform Lessons from Florida on Overcoming Achievement Gaps, low-income students in Florida consistently ...
Unbalanced Billing In California Hospitals: Is This A Problem the State Can Solve By Getting Out of the Way?
Imagine if you bought an airline ticket to fly from San Francisco to Chicago and after the flight you received an extra bill from the co-pilot for what he claims is a fair price for his services. He is unsatisfied with the airline’s pay, and would like you and your ...
The High Price of Failure in California: How Inadequate Education Costs Schools, Students, and Society
More than a decade ago, in 1996, the California State University (CSU) trustees adopted a policy to reduce the need for remediation to no more than 10 percent of incoming freshmen by 2007. In 1998, the state outlawed K12 social promotion, requiring schools to retain any student performing below grade-level ...
State Health Benefit Mandates Increase the Number of Uninsured
San Francisco, July 1, 2008 – The Pacific Research Institute today released the findings of a new report reviewing the impact of state benefit mandates on the uninsured. According to From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance, benefit mandates increase health insurance ...
From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance
A benefit mandate is simply a state law that requires a health plan to pay for (or at least offer) a specified treatment, but there is nothing simple about quantifying the costs of such mandates. This paper reviews 28 original actuarial and econometric articles that attempt to estimate the cost ...
From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates
PRI released a new paper today, which examines one critical area where states interfere in residents’ ability to buy health insurance of their choosing. According to From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance, benefit mandates increase health insurance premiums, reduce wages, increase ...
Letter to Senators Feinstein and Boxer regarding (S. Amdt. 4983) amendment to H.R. 3221
The Honorable Diane Feinstein United States Senate 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Barbara Boxer United States Senate 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer: As the Senate prepares to vote on the current housing legislation, I would like to ...
Medicare Means Testing: Test the Deductible, Not the Premium
The looming insolvency of Medicare is disappointingly absent from the list of policy issues on the carte du jour for the November general election. Fortunately, the current Administration recognizes the clear and present danger of Medicare insolvency. “Time is running out. Medicare is drifting toward disaster,”1 said U.S. Secretary of ...
How California Can Graduate More Students: The Arizona Example
On June 5, Education Week released Diplomas Count 2008: School to College. The report finds that three in 10 students who enroll in California public high schools fail to graduate. The statistics mask a more dismal reality, but there is a way the Golden State can improve. The results of ...
Bye Bye Nerdy! Congress Slams the Door on California’s Scientists and Engineers
On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will consider a proposal by Silicon Valley Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren to end restrictions on the most critical resource driving technological innovation. This resource is human talent, and with the greatest public university system in the world, California should be fertile ground. Due to arbitrary ...