Taxes & Economy

Safety Net Should be Reformed, not Renamed

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • September 18, 2014

Good news: Pennsylvania will no longer spend 40 percent of the general fund budget on public welfare. Instead, we’ll spend it on “human services.” Yesterday, the general assembly approved HB…

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Welfare

Protect the Poor, Not Lotto Winners

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • November 20, 2013

Jamie Frankford won $330,000 in the Pennsylvania lottery in 2012, yet continued to collect child care subsidies and Medicaid benefits. Her story, reported by Chris Papst at CBS21, caught…

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Health Care

A Sign of Things to Come?

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • November 13, 2013

Cancelled health care plans, an unusable exchange website—do we still trust the federal government to deliver on its health care promises? In what could be a sign of what’s to…

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Health Care

More Reasons to Pass on Medicaid Expansion

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 5, 2013

Elected officials are standing strong in their opposition to the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, despite a number of “independent studies” touting the benefits of “…

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Health Care

Four Reasons to Avoid Medicaid Expansion

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 6, 2013

Medicaid expansion is bad news for all Pennsylvanians. Here are four reasons why: 1. Expansion undermines the quality of health care. Medicaid patients suffer from limited access to care. A…

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Health Care

Corbett’s Wise Medicaid Stance

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • April 30, 2013

While advocates of expanding the welfare state are using new studies to push Gov. Tom Corbett to expand Medicaid, his position of resisting the “free money” argument is wise given…

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Taxes & Economy

Name Change Won’t Fix Welfare

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • April 23, 2013

Pennsylvania’s welfare system is broken, and significant reforms are needed to help lift individuals out of poverty. Changing the name of the Department of Public Welfare to the Department of…

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Welfare

Reforms Bringing Sanity to Welfare

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 16, 2013

Last year the Pa. Department of Public Welfare implemented—and Commonwealth Foundation touted—a new asset test on food stamps to ensure those with means were not benefiting from programs intended…

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Health Care

Hidden Costs of Obamacare Exposed

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Nathan Benefield
  • December 14, 2012

While much has been written about the cost of the exchange and the Medicaid expansion, a mountain of hidden mandates could cost Pennsylvania taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over…

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