Many Pennsylvanians face chronic unemployment, welfare dependency, and the cycle of poverty. This happens because labor incentives have been overridden by bad policies that keep millions out of the workforce and enact excessive red tape. We can reverse this trend by ending the practice of waiving work requirements on able-bodied Pennsylvanians with no dependents, removing barriers to employment for those seeking a fresh start, and creating a healthcare system without burdensome regulations.

Criminal Justice Reform

Cash bail costs victims the most

  • Jennifer Stefano
  • January 2, 2023

Originally published at The Philadelphia Inquirer My friend recently shared a story with me about growing up in an abusive home. He requested I keep his name and personal…

Media Hit

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Health Care

The Case for Nurse Practitioner Reform: Full Practice Authority in Pennsylvania

  • Dr. David Mitchell, Dr. Moiz Bhai
  • December 5, 2022

Key Points More than 580,000 Pennsylvanians live in areas with a shortage of primary care professionals relative to the population. This shortage exists throughout the state but concentrates in rural…

Backgrounder

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Health Care

Remove barriers to increase health care access in Western Pa.

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • November 22, 2022

Originally published at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Nearly three years after the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, hospitals still struggle with significant labor shortages. Health care workers are…

Media Hit

Read More: Remove barriers to increase health care access in Western Pa.

Health Care

Report: Access to Health Care in Pa. Stymied by Restrictive State Laws

  • November 15, 2022

Harrisburg, PA – A new report from the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s leading free-market public policy research organization, found that Pennsylvania state laws that restrict the work of advanced practice…

Press Release

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Health Care

How Full Practice Authority Can Increase Access and Improve Outcomes

  • November 15, 2022

Key Findings Marylanders in border counties have better health care outcomes, including fewer residents reporting fair or poor health and fewer residents with poor mental health days.Before full practice authority,…

Report

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Criminal Justice Reform

Keeping kids in the community improves public safety

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • October 28, 2022

Originally published at City & State Pennsylvania Reforming the juvenile justice system is personal for Philadelphia native Jon Kelly.   “I cycled through several youth detention centers,”…

Media Hit

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Independence

Pa’s Wayward Welfare State

  • October 27, 2022

Summary Policies that expanded Medicaid eligibility to healthy, working-aged people and do not require the verification of eligibility have expanded the size and complexity of a program designed to focus…

Fact Sheet

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Criminal Justice Reform

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • Jessica Barnett
  • August 3, 2022

Key Points The Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice Task Force (Task Force) found most youth entering the juvenile justice system committed low-level offenses and are “low risk to reoffend.”[1]Studies…

Backgrounder

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Health Care

Medicaid’s Endless Expansion

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Stefanie Mason
  • July 5, 2022

Key Points Medicaid enrollment has surged, increasing by more than one million since 2015.[1] The program now covers more than one-quarter of all Pennsylvanians.Medicaid is the largest program…

Backgrounder

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Health Care

Nursing shortage can be fixed by speeding up the licensing process

  • Jennifer Stefano
  • May 30, 2022

Originally published in The Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania is currently enduring one ofthe worst nurse shortages in the nation. A shocking one in four nursing positions went unfilled…

Media Hit

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Criminal Justice Reform

Why Pennsylvania Needs Probation Reform

  • Brandon Van Dyck
  • December 15, 2021

Pennsylvania has an overburdened probation system that delivers substandard results. The commonwealth’s recidivism rate is 41 percent—one of the highest in the nation.

Backgrounder

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Health Care

How to Vote in PA Q&A

  • Stefanie Mason
  • October 6, 2020

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. In Pennsylvania, voters are navigating how to cast their ballots during this pandemic era. …

Fact Sheet

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Health Care

Preserving Medicaid Before It’s Too Late

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • September 24, 2020

Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program is a national leader in all the wrong ways. Sub-standard access to care and soaring enrollment, costs, and fraud crowd out services for people with intellectual disabilities and low-income…

Backgrounder

Read More: Preserving Medicaid Before It’s Too Late