State Budget

GAO Sounds the Fiscal Alarm on State Medicaid Costs

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 26, 2012

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has a new report on state and local government finances. Of greatest concern are the expected increases in Medicaid spending and health care for…

Media

Read More: GAO Sounds the Fiscal Alarm on State Medicaid Costs

Health Care

Medicaid Flexibility: The Key to a Sustainable Safety Net

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • April 13, 2012

As we inch towards the state budget deadline, welfare spending reductions in Pennsylvania continue to be contentious. The reductions that are proposed concentrate on 20 percent of spending, since…

Media

Read More: Medicaid Flexibility: The Key to a Sustainable Safety Net

Health Care

Medicaid Waivers & the Looming Fiscal Crisis

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • April 9, 2012

In the waning days of 2008, the state of Rhode Island secured a global waiver for its Medicaid program. The waiver exempted the state from many federal rules and mandates in exchange for a…

Media

Read More: Medicaid Waivers & the Looming Fiscal Crisis

Health Care

Change We Can’t Afford

  • Matthew Brouillette
  • March 28, 2012

This week, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act celebrated its two-year anniversary before the U.S. Supreme Court. The controversial health care law finds itself in front of the highest…

Commentary

Read More: Change We Can’t Afford

Taxes & Economy

Chart of the Day: Welfare Overlap

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • March 26, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) encompasses much more than Food Stamps and Medicaid. There are numerous federally-funded and state-only aid programs. In fact, most of the 2.7 million…

Media

Read More: Chart of the Day: Welfare Overlap

Health Care

PPACA Will Put a Quarter of Pennsylvanians on Medicaid

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • March 23, 2012

There is no shortage of media coverage marking PPACA’s two year anniversary, but one statistic from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare did grab my attention: Instead of…

Media

Read More: PPACA Will Put a Quarter of Pennsylvanians on Medicaid

Regulation

Sounding the Alarm to Save Pennsylvania

  • February 29, 2012

A four-alarm fire is engulfing Pennsylvania's economy.  If we don't regain control of the state debt, corrections costs, public welfare growth and government employee pensions, our state taxpayers will be…

Commentary

Read More: Sounding the Alarm to Save Pennsylvania

State Budget

Pennsylvania Welfare Spending

  • February 22, 2012

The FY 2011-12 total operating budget of $63.4 billion, which included $27.1 billion in General Fund spending, represented the first year-to-year reduction in state spending in at least 40 years.

Fact Sheet

Read More: Pennsylvania Welfare Spending

Health Care

Ending the Cycle: Reforming Welfare in Pennsylvania

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • February 16, 2012

Government welfare, with its goal to provide a helping hand to those in need, has instead become a vast series of programs that fall far short of the good intentions…

Report

Read More: Ending the Cycle: Reforming Welfare in Pennsylvania