The Heartland Institute

This 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 ...

Jordan 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 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 ...

Secret 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 ...

When 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 ...

So 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 ...

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 ...

Arizona 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 ...

Much 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 ...

This 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 ...

Texas and Arizona are poised to reap the benefits of domestic natural gas production, as Mexico is building new pipelines to import natural gas from the two U.S. states. Central Economy Stifling Production Mexico is blessed with some of the largest natural gas deposits in the world. Nevertheless, Pemex, the government-owned natural ...

At a sentencing hearing for an off-duty cop convicted of sexual abuse, a female Arizona judge told the victim she should blame only herself for the molestation, which happened in a Flagstaff bar. The cop lifted the woman’s skirt and fondled her. He was fired by the state Department of Public Safety after his conviction ...

The Scottsdale, Arizona, City Council has voted 7-0 to spend nearly $2 million for a new police station – and refuses to disclose where the building is located. In addition to keeping the location secret, the City Council has also kept its discussions secret. Council members made the decision to spend $1.87 million for the ...

With the selection of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) as Mitt Romney’s running mate in the coming election, the issue of Medicare reform is likely to be the subject of loud demagoguery from now until November. This is nothing new; it’s already been going on for some time, in fact. But it’s likely to become much ...

Mohave County, Arizona is suing the federal government over new restrictions on mining operations that will place one million acres of uranium-rich lands off limits. Several Arizona counties have followed Mohave County’s lead, announcing they are joining the suit. Procedural Maneuvering Questioned Mohave County officials are partnering ...

How much could shifting to consumer directed health plans save? A great deal, according to this new study by RAND researchers, published in Health Affairs : Enrollment is increasing in consumer-directed health insurance plans, which feature high deductibles and a personal health care savings account. We project that an increase ...

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill making approximately 100,000 more children eligible to receive their state education dollars in an account parents can use to purchase things like private school tuition, tutoring, and textbooks. Arizona became the first state in the nation to offer education savings accounts (ESAs) when ...

In advance of the Supreme Court’s April hearings on the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care law, the Republican Governors Association released a new survey of estimates from state administrators highlighting the exorbitant cost of implementing the law, particularly the expansion of Medicaid mandated to all states ...

Today will bring the latest report from the Medicare trustees on the program’s solvency, or lack thereof. Expect a slight improvement to appear thanks to the 2 percent cut to providers mandated under the sequestration agreement – but that’s fool’s gold, and everyone knows it. An interesting side note to the trustees’ report ...

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill expanding the state’s first-in-nation education savings accounts, charging the education choice program skews “a competitive market.” The veto “surprised most legislators,” who expected the Republican governor to approve the expansion as she had the original program, said Jonathan Butcher, director ...