The Heartland Institute

Learning from Oregon's Medicaid Expansion? With many states still considering whether or not to expand their Medicaid programs a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine sheds some light on what health, financial, and other outcomes to expect. In 2008, Oregon expanded its Medicaid program to 30 ...

Is Common Core Becoming Less Common? Back in 2010, 45 states agreed to adopt a single set of requirements for what K-12 children should know in each grade in math and English. Approximately 80 percent of the public does not know about the Common Core education standards, which comprise one of the most comprehensive ...

Yesterday, the Arkansas legislature approved a Medicaid waiver request to allow for a “private option” version of expansion. The state must now wait for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to accept the plan or it will be back to the drawing board. You can read the actual legislation here . Dan Greenberg, president ...

Does your state benefit from President Barack Obama’s expansion of the Medicaid program, or does the expansion just put you on the hook for millions or even billions in new taxes to pay for money presented as “free”? Currently 18 states have decided not to move forward with expanding Medicaid or are leaning in that direction ...

This week sponsors of the Marketplace Fairness Act, Sens. Mike Enzi and Dick Durbin, are introducing an amendment intended as a proxy vote for the expansion of states’ ability to charge sales taxes on out-of-state retailers regardless of whether the retailer had a physical presence in the state. Last week a group of 16 conservative ...

In his State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama proposed raising the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour. At the state level, ten states had increases in their state’s minimum wage go into effect in early 2013. According to data collected by the National Conference of State Legislatures , currently 18 ...

Over the past few years many states have passed so-called Amazon taxes that have produced very little revenue and in some cases have been overturned in court. At the same time Congress has tried to expand states' ability to tax purchases made online and from mail-order catalogs by neutering the physical presence standard. Only ...

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling last year that states could not be forced to expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, some states have decided “free” federal money is too hard to pass up. Just this week Ohio Gov. John Kasich became the fifth Republican governor to endorse the expansion of Medicaid ...

Next week experts from Heartland will spend Valentine’s Day in Topeka, Kansas testifying on a bill that would amend the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS). The bill would postpone the deadlines by which utilities are required to increase the percentages of electricity they sell from renewable sources, which are more expensive ...

States To Tackle Income Taxes While Congress and the president recently hiked taxes for 77 percent of the nation’s taxpayers, proposals for sweeping tax cuts continue to gain momentum at the state level. In the new year governors and influential state lawmakers from Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio ...

One of the great privileges I have in working for Heartland is the opportunity to help elected officials at all levels of government discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to economic and social problems. Heartland realizes busy elected officials have little or no staff and need a reliable source of research ...

The election results have been certified, the fiscal cliff has been averted, and the world didn’t end. Now state lawmakers are heading back to their state capitols to begin their 2013 legislative sessions. States are expected to face many important issues this year, including Medicaid expansion and balancing their budgets ...

One need not look far to see the federal government and state governments are moving further apart on their approaches to energy policy. More states are looking at ways to encourage the development of affordable domestic energy sources such as natural gas and away from picking winners and losers through arbitrary renewable ...

Approaching the Fiscal Cliff As we approach 2013, taxpayers are waiting to see if Congress will let the nation go over the so-called fiscal cliff by allowing the largest tax increase in American history and budget cuts to go into effect. There is still wide disagreement over which tax hikes to prevent and what spending ...

With the reelection of President Barack Obama, the implementation of the federal health care law is moving forward, leaving states that have resisted implementation to make some key health care decisions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has long encouraged states to implement their own health insurance ...

Next week is the election that will bring hundreds of new lawmakers into office at the state level. Looming large for states is the outcome of the presidential election. The outcome, regardless of who wins, will guide public policy at the state level for the next four years. This is especially true of health care, with ...

Earlier this week the non-partisan Tax Foundation released its 2013 State Business Tax Climate index . This must-read report allows elected officials to see how their states stack up in terms of creating a tax system that is appealing to business, and thus likely to attract job-creators to the state. According to ...

On August 9, The Heartland Institute hosted its eighth Emerging Issues Forum , a gathering of state elected officials, public policy experts, and Heartland senior staff to discuss the issues likely to be on the agenda in 2013 and beyond. The event was a huge success, attracting more than 85 elected officials from at ...

Yesterday, at the Republican National Convention, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice gave a superb speech covering many important issues. One issue she touched on that regrettably hasn’t been talked about enough this campaign season is education reform. For the United States to have sustained economic prosperity ...

On August 9, The Heartland Institute held its 2012 Emerging Issues Forum in Chicago, Illinois. More than 140 people attended, including more than 85 legislators from at least 32 states. One of the most talked-about panels at the event was the health care panel, which featured Georgia state Sen. Judson Hill, Dr. Jill ...