Under Obamacare, Pennsylvania families have been forced to pay more for health care, and more than 800,000 Pennsylvania adults have received taxpayer-funded health coverage through a broken Medicaid system. Without Congressional action, states are unable to carry the full burden of Obamacare on their own. However, state policymakers can focus their own reform efforts on giving patients more control over health care and restoring Medicaid as a safety-net program. Access to health care should be measured, not by the number of those with insurance, but by the ability of individuals to independently secure the affordable, reliable care they deserve.

Health Care

Obamacare Creates Another Round of Premium Hikes

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Nathan Benefield
  • October 18, 2017

Governor Wolf announced exchange insurance premiums will increase by 30 percent next year thanks to President Trump and Congress. The problem is insurance rates have increased every year under…

Media

Read More: Obamacare Creates Another Round of Premium Hikes

Health Care

Restoring the Dignity of Work

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • October 17, 2017

The benefits of work are widely known. Yet major welfare programs treat work as a burden instead of the pathway to prosperity. Restoring work in food stamps alone could improve…

Report

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Health Care

Wolf’s Wrongheaded Veto Threat

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • October 9, 2017

Governor Wolf intends to veto Pennsylvania’s welfare code (HB 59) due to a reform contained within the bill—even though the reform can reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth. The modest reform instructs the…

Media

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Health Care

Five Medicaid Work Requirement Truths

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • August 24, 2017

Work leaves families better off. To ignore this fact and urge people to trust a failing Medicaid system is nothing short of a moral scandal.

Fact Sheet

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Health Care

Higher Liquor Prices Just the Latest Hit to Pennsylvania Families

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 4, 2017

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced it would be arbitrarily raising prices on 422 wine and liquor products. This increase is a result of the “liquor modernization” efforts—which have…

Media

Read More: Higher Liquor Prices Just the Latest Hit to Pennsylvania Families

Health Care

Obamacare Continues to Destabilize Health Insurance

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • July 25, 2017

Obamacare repeal efforts have included transformative Medicaid reform, but retained many of the regulations responsible for collapsing individual markets. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department released shocking individual insurance rate requests…

Media

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Health Care

Four Game Changing Welfare Reforms

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • July 11, 2017

The 2017-18 spending plan is now law, but officials still must find a way to pay for it. The latest version of the human services code bill includes a host…

Media

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Health Care

Meaningful Welfare Reform Included in State Budget

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • July 6, 2017

State lawmakers are scrambling to create a revenue plan that can balance the $32 billion dollar spending plan passed by the legislature last week. While talks of tax hikes, borrowing…

Media

Read More: Meaningful Welfare Reform Included in State Budget

Health Care

Welfare Reform Efforts Gain Traction

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 27, 2017

Tax hikes or spending reforms? That's the question before lawmakers as the annual scramble to the June 30th budget deadline proceeds. So it's no surprise lawmakers are turning their attention…

Media

Read More: Welfare Reform Efforts Gain Traction

Health Care

What the Senate ACA Repeal Plan Means for PA

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 23, 2017

A draft of the U.S. Senate GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare is out in the open. Overall, the bill is a step in right direction. The plan fundamentally…

Media

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Health Care

One Step Towards Redesigning Human Services

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 15, 2017

Governor Wolf’s proposal to merge four state agencies into the Department of Health and Human Services has the potential to benefit taxpayers and beneficiaries by eliminating bureaucratic redundancies and providing…

Media

Read More: One Step Towards Redesigning Human Services

Health Care

Obamacare’s Cost Increase Aren’t “Just Fine”

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 15, 2017

This week, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller sent a letter suggesting that an 8.8 percent increase in insurance premiums next year was a good thing, and…

Media

Read More: Obamacare’s Cost Increase Aren’t “Just Fine”

Criminal Justice Reform

Policy Memo: Principles for State Budget

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 14, 2017

With the 2017 budget, lawmakers have an opportunity to double down on the idea of reinventing government and adopt meaningful reforms that will save taxpayers money, stimulate economic growth, and improve services…

Memo

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Health Care

PA’s Unaffordable Health Care Act Premiums

  • Colleen Hroncich
  • June 9, 2017

If there’s ever a contest for least accurately named law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would certainly be in the running. In the aftermath of the ACA, more commonly called…

Media

Read More: PA’s Unaffordable Health Care Act Premiums

Health Care

Saving Medicaid

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 9, 2017

Obamacare proponents insist the American Health Care Act (AHCA) will cut $800 billion from Medicaid and jeopardize care for the disabled and children. This claim is oft-repeated, but it is patently false.

Media

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Health Care

Obamacare Repeal Could Strengthen Medicaid

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 10, 2017

There is no shortage of dire warnings from the press, medical industry lobbyists, and other left-leaning organizations about the American Health Care Act's (AHCA) landmark Medicaid reforms. At the…

Media

Read More: Obamacare Repeal Could Strengthen Medicaid

Health Care

Five Pre-Existing Condition Myths Debunked

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 9, 2017

What happens when Obamacare mandates drive insurance companies out of the marketplace? One breast cancer survivor in Maricopa County, Arizona—which lost all but one Obamacare…

Media

Read More: Five Pre-Existing Condition Myths Debunked

Health Care

Latest Obamacare Repeal Effort Full of Opportunity

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 5, 2017

As the past seven years have shown, no one in Congress is qualified to make healthcare decisions for Pennsylvanians. The latest version of the American Health Care Act will give…

Media

Read More: Latest Obamacare Repeal Effort Full of Opportunity

Education

Ten Reasons for Optimism

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • April 28, 2017

This week state lawmakers advanced a plethora of good policy, from legislation to finally end the government liquor monopoly to a bill that would improve health care in rural areas.

Media

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Health Care

A New Wave of Welfare Reform

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • April 26, 2017

Governors across the country are proposing game-changing welfare reforms and Pennsylvania should follow their example. Yesterday, Maine submitted a waiver to the federal government asking for permission…

Media

Read More: A New Wave of Welfare Reform

Health Care

Senate Acts to Improve Health Access, Lower Costs

  • James Paul
  • April 18, 2017

All Pennsylvanians deserve access to quality, affordable health care. That's why it was encouraging to see the Senate advance SB 25 out of the Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure Committee.

Media

Read More: Senate Acts to Improve Health Access, Lower Costs