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.

Health Care

State Mandates Result in High Price Tags

  • September 10, 2008

A recent news release from the National Center for Policy Analysis underscores the reason for soaring health coverage costs across the nation: state mandates and no national competition. The…

Media

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Health Care

McCain and Obama on Health Care

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 5, 2008

While health care policy won’t get the level of media coverage as Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter or Barack Obama’s crazy pastor, some people might be interested in looking at the candidates proposals…

Media

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Health Care

Conservatives should care about health care

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 31, 2008

Philip Klein has a must read article about why conservatives should care about health in the The American Spectator. He makes the case that it is not enough to…

Media

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Health Care

How free is PA’s health care market?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 18, 2008

The Pacific Research Institute released their U.S. Index of Health Ownership, 2008 last week (full report in PDF).  The report ranks states’ health care markets and regulations based…

Media

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Health Care

Reduce the number of uninsured 25% – for free

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 13, 2008

A new study by University of Minnesota researchers finds that a simply policy change would reduce the number of uninsured by 25 to 33 percent (Greg Scandlen has a…

Media

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Health Care

The Price of RomneyCare

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 29, 2008

Wall Street Journal on the escalating costs of the Massachusetts health care plan (RomneyCare): Thus the extra tab of $129 million, which may need to go higher…

Media

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Health Care

State Budget Crises?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 25, 2008

Cato’s Chris Edwards blasts the Wall Street Journal (and other media outlets) for their uncritical coverage of state budget “shortfalls.” The Times “treats any needed spending restraint as a…

Media

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Welfare

Welfare Reform: PA gets poor grades

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 15, 2008

The Heartland Institute has a new report, Welfare Reform after Ten Years: A State-by-State Analysis (for PDF version click here) ranking the states both on welfare outcomes –…

Media

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Health Care

Is “universal health care” a religion?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 8, 2008

Michael Cannon pulls a troubling quote from an advocate of SCHIP expansion, who admits his support is based on faith, not evidence. Of course Cannon is a well-known…

Media

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Health Care

Questionable Benefits of State Mandates for Health Insurance

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 3, 2008

The Pacific Research Institute a new study on the cost of health insurance mandates.  As would be expected (see our commentary on autism and slacker mandates), they find…

Media

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Health Care

New Mandates A Step Backwards in Health Care Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 2, 2008

State lawmakers claim to hear the cries of Pennsylvania residents about the escalating costs of health care. Unfortunately, instead of pushing reforms to help lower the costs of care, some…

Commentary

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Health Care

How much will an autism mandate cost?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 26, 2008

The PA Health Care Containment Council allegedly has a study (it hasn’t been released, but some media are reporting on it) claiming that a new mandate that insurance companies…

Media

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Health Care

Do Democrats want people to die?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 26, 2008

Yesterday, I got an email from a lobbying organization, which masquerades as a grassroots organization, led by Governor Rendell’s campaign manager with the subject, “As The Senate Delays, People…

Media

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Health Care

Address Health Care, Not Health Insurance

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 24, 2008

Letter to the editor in The Daily Item focus on the Senate Republican’s health care reform plan, specifically their proposal to aid free clinics. While I agree with…

Media

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Health Care

Voters Send Mixed Messages on Health Care

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 13, 2008

Michael Tanner on polls about health care and the divergent proposals , concluding, “as November approaches, voters will reach a fork in the road, and as Yogi Berra says,…

Media

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Health Care

An American Cure for Reforming Health Care

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 7, 2008

Tom Coburn presents his proposal to reform our health care system at the Manhattan Institute. Here is the core of the argument: How do we create a real…

Media

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Health Care

More evidence on the failure of RomneyCare

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 4, 2008

Michael Tanner blasts positive media coverage of a new report on Massachusetts health care, pointing out the many reasons why RomneyCare is a failure (from the same report). Tanner…

Media

Read More: More evidence on the failure of RomneyCare

Health Care

Fixing Health Care in the States

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 29, 2008

The Wall Street Journal has two articles about health insurance reform in other states. First, from Florida, where the state has enacted a law that will allow low-cost, mandate…

Media

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Health Care

The New Big Dig

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 21, 2008

Wall Street Journal on the pitfalls of RomneyCare.

Media

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Health Care

PA liability for state retiree health: $8.8 billion

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 12, 2008

The PA Office of the Budget released their actuarial report on retiree health care liabilities, revealing that the estimated unfunded liablity as of July 1, 2008 is $8.8 billion…

Media

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Health Care

Address the Cost of Health Care

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 11, 2008

Here is a letter to the editor I sent to the York Daily Record on health care reform: I am responding to a May 4 op-ed by Rep. Eugene…

Media

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