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The Obamacare Propaganda Boom
Benjamin DomenechThe latest polling on Obamacare is the worst it has ever been, with majorities of Americans saying they expect their family will be worse off under it and majorities saying it would be better to go back to the pre-Obamacare health care system. A Fox News poll found only 26 percent of voters say their health care situation ...
Hospital Lobby Presses for Medicaid Expansion to Protect Subsidies
Michael F. CannonHospitals across the nation are threatening that unless state lawmakers implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s—Obamacare—Medicaid expansion, the law’s new taxes and spending cuts will lead to layoffs and closures. There’s a dual irony here. First, hospitals put themselves in this position when they lobbied for ...
Research and Commentary: Arizona Medicaid Expansion
Heartland Research & Commentary - John Nothdurft Heartland InstituteAs states begin debating whether to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), many, including Arizona, are still debating whether to expand their Medicaid programs. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, once an opponent of Medicaid expansion, recently declared a moratorium on all other legislation until a Medicaid plan ...
Don’t Ignore the Sebelius Scandal
Benjamin DomenechAmidst all the other scandals capturing Washington’s attention at this moment, the forgotten one is also one of the most obviously egregious: Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s solicitation of donations from entities she holds enormous power over through the regulatory state. Alana Goodman reports: Health and ...
More Delays for Obamacare’s Implementation
Benjamin DomenechIt’s official: We have another significant delay in the implementation of Obamacare. A few months back, the Obama administration took flak for initial plans to delay part of Obamacare’s small-business exchange. The idea, floated in regulations last month, wouldn’t put off the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP ...
Congress on Obamacare: Stop This Train Wreck Already
Benjamin DomenechThis Obamacare thing is not going as well as some had hoped. Democratic senators, at a caucus meeting with White House officials, expressed concerns on Thursday about how the Obama administration was carrying out the health care law they adopted three years ago. Democrats in both houses of Congress said some members of ...
For 9-Year-Old with Cerebral Palsy, School Choice a 'Godsend'
Joy PullmannJordan Visser was not thriving in his Arizona public school. After a round of arguments with his school, Jordan's parents learned of Arizona's education savings accounts (ESAs), which deposit part of state funds set aside for the child's education into an account parents control and can use for any educational purchase. The ...
The Economic Impact of Arizona's Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff
David G. Tuerck, Ph.D., Paul Bachman, MSIE, Michael Head, MSEP Beacon Hill InstituteStudy: Arizona’s renewable mandate should give cause for concern for new commission (Boston, MA) In January, as he launched his term as Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC) new chairman, Bob Stump discussed renewable energy policy by announcing he would “refuse to bet on, or cheerlead for, any one form of technology,” and ...
Study: Homeschooled Teens Sleep Better (video)
Joy PullmannThe stereotype that homeschooled kids do school in their pajamas may actually indicate better mental health. A new study finds that homeschooled kids sleep 90 minutes more, on average, than their non-homeschooled peers. Homeschooled kids also sleep in later than public school students, which actually better fits a teen's natural ...
Study Shows Need to End Secrecy in Government Union Collective Bargaining
Rob KramerSecret negotiations over employment contracts between union representatives and government officials are the norm in nearly every state in the union. This keeps taxpayers in the dark about how compensation packages are awarded and stops journalists from knowing what goes on behind closed doors. In a report released by the Goldwater ...
The Contraception Non-Compromise
Benjamin DomenechWhen is a compromise not a compromise? When only one side thinks it’s a compromise. The Obama administration said Friday that it will not provide broad exceptions to the contraception mandate in its signature healthcare law. The Health and Human Services Department rejected calls to let any employer opt out of the mandate ...
Avoiding the Medicaid Trap
Benjamin DomenechSo that Medicaid expansion – it’s very tempting, isn’t it? All those Medicaid dollars just sitting there, free of charge from the federal coffers … and you get to claim you’ve expanded coverage for hundreds of thousands of people in an instant, at no cost to the state. It all sounds too good to be true. That’s because ...
Feds Open Glen Canyon Dam, Simulate Colorado River Flood
James M. Taylor, J.D.Federal Bureau of Reclamation officials opened up turbines and bypass tubes in the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, unleashing a simulated flood designed to mimic a natural flood in the Colorado River and Grand Canyon ecosystems. The simulated flood, which began Nov. 19, increased the Colorado River’s flow from 8,000 cubic ...
EPA Rejects Arizona Haze Plan
Jeff EdgensArizona consumers can expect higher electricity costs as a result of new EPA restrictions on three Eastern Arizona power plants. Arizona state environmental officials say the EPA restrictions are too costly and will provide no perceptible environmental benefits. EPA Rejects Arizona Plan The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality ...
ADEQ Opposes Control Strategy by EPA to Reduce Visibility Impact from Arizona Electricity Generating Stations
Arizona Department of Environmental QualityArizona Department of Environmental Quality officials denounced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to impose unnecessarily strict air pollution controls at the AEPCO Apache Generating Station near Benson, the APS Cholla Power Plant near Joseph City, and the SRP Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns under a ...
Increasing Entrepreneurship Is a Key to Lowering Poverty Rates
Stephen Slivinski Goldwater InstituteThere is a strong connection between a state’s rate of entrepreneurship and declines in poverty. Statistical analysis of all 50 states indicates that states with a larger share of entrepreneurs had bigger declines in poverty. In fact, comparing states during the last economic boom—from 2001 to 2007—data show that for every 1 ...
Research & Commentary: State Capital Gains Taxes
Heartland Research & Commentary - Matthew Glans Heartland InstituteAs Congress decides whether to allow the national capital gains tax rate to increase at the beginning of next year, states across the country are debating whether to change their own capital gains taxes. These are taxes paid by individuals and corporations on their capital gains, or profits realized when investors sell a capital ...
Research & Commentary: Worldwide vs. Territorial Taxation
Heartland Research & Commentary - Matthew Glans Heartland InstituteThe United States has the highest corporate tax rate among the 34 nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) in addition to being one of the few nations still using a “worldwide system.” These are two reasons the United States is in dire need of fundamental corporate tax reform. Under the ...
Access and Subsidies: Your Taxpayer Dollars at Work
Benjamin DomenechMuch of the conversation during this election season has revolved around the word “access,” particularly within the health care space. What you ought to understand by now is that when most liberal politicians say “access,” what they mean is “taxpayer subsidies.” This is not exclusively the terminology of the left, but it is ...
Arizona’s Education Savings Accounts Turn Two
Jonathan ButcherThis fall, Arizona’s unique system of education savings accounts turned two years old. After beginning quietly with 75 children in September 2011, the program enrolled more than 400 students this school year. In 2013-14, 200,000 children will be eligible. As the accounts (called “Empowerment Scholarship Accounts”) draw more attention ...