Health Care
Instead of a ‘Public Option’, We Need a ‘Personal Option’
Originally published at RealClearHealth Health care is a mess—and our political leaders aren’t helping. Presidential candidates only offer vague ideas to address our health care problems. From former President…
Read More: Instead of a ‘Public Option’, We Need a ‘Personal Option’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
Poll: Voters Overwhelmingly Support Medicaid Work Requirements
In other states, thousands of Americans previously dependent on government programs have transformed their lives and achieved independence thanks to work requirements. But Pennsylvania’s human services system still traps people…
Press Release
Read More: Poll: Voters Overwhelmingly Support Medicaid Work RequirementsHealth Care
States Get Green Light to Propose Medicaid Work Requirements
It's official: The Trump administration has formally endorsed the policy of work requirements for healthy Medicaid recipients. For years states have sought this flexibility to help beneficiaries of Medicaid—government-run health insurance…
Media
Read More: States Get Green Light to Propose Medicaid Work RequirementsHealth Care
Obamacare Exchanges Continue To Dissapoint
Open enrollment for Obamacare exchange plans ends on December 15. It is convenient to blame the new administration and efforts to repeal the law for dwindling choices, disappointing enrollment, and…
Media
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Obamacare Creates Another Round of Premium Hikes
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
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Restoring the Dignity of Work
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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Wolf’s Wrongheaded Veto Threat
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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Five Medicaid Work Requirement Truths
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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Higher Liquor Prices Just the Latest Hit to Pennsylvania Families
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
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Obamacare Continues to Destabilize Health Insurance
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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Four Game Changing Welfare Reforms
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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Meaningful Welfare Reform Included in State Budget
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
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Welfare Reform Efforts Gain Traction
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 TractionHealth Care
What the Senate ACA Repeal Plan Means for PA
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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One Step Towards Redesigning Human Services
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
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Obamacare’s Cost Increase Aren’t “Just Fine”
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
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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PA’s Unaffordable Health Care Act Premiums
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
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Saving Medicaid
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.
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Obamacare Repeal Could Strengthen Medicaid
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
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Five Pre-Existing Condition Myths Debunked
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
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Latest Obamacare Repeal Effort Full of Opportunity
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