HW: Give Medicaid Dollars Directly to Patients

Published April 17, 2017

PBS Lesson Plan Teaches Kids to Sympathize with Radical Islamic Terrorism
Justin Haskins
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is home to Big Bird, Frontline, and other “programing made possible by viewers like you,” including instructing teachers how to show kids to be more sympathetic to radical Islamic suicide bombers in Palestine. “Dying to be a Martyr” is the name of a lesson plan offered to students and teachers at no cost by PBS, a taxpayer-funded nonprofit, and some of the material seems to encourage students to learn to sympathize with radical Islamic terrorists. READ MORE

Renewable Energy Myths Abound
Isaac Orr, Detroit News
Over the past year “alternative facts” and “fake news” have become regrettable buzzwords used to dismiss any viewpoint that does not support one’s own preconceived notions. But when it comes to renewable energy, there truly are numerous myths that perpetuate throughout the media and culture that are not supported by any fair reading of the available data. Before we sacrifice our traditional sources of energy, we need to examine the alternatives closely and carefully. READ MORE

Give Medicaid Dollars Directly to Patients
Justin Haskins and Michael Hamilton, The Wall Street Journal
The GOP’s recently benched health-care bill would have substantially reformed Medicaid by giving the states block grants, along with more flexibility on how to spend the money. But there’s a better model. Republicans should empower Medicaid patients by providing funds to them directly, which would allow them to build a personal safety net that could last a lifetime. A $7,000 health savings account per year would save the government billions of wasted dollars while expanding personal choice. READ MORE

Featured Podcast: David Keene: Shall Not Be Infringed – The New Assaults on Your Second Amendment
David Keene, opinion editor of The Washington Times, former chairman of the American Conservative Union, and past president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), joins the podcast to discuss the history of the Second Amendment and the repeated waves of assaults against it. Keene discusses several important points in the history of the NRA, including its founding, its foray into legislative and legal actions, and its grassroots support. He also talks about how the NRA is working with future generations and how citizens can work in their local communities and states to preserve their right to keep and bear arms. LISTEN TO MORE

EVENT, April 19: Climate Scientist Pat Michaels at The Heartland Institute 
When it comes to global warming, most people think there are two camps: You’re either an “alarmist” or you’re a “denier.” Either you acknowledge the existence of manmade climate change and consider it a dire global threat, or you deny it exists at all. But there’s a third group: the “lukewarmers.” Join us the evening of April 19, when Heartland will host an event with frequent ICCC speaker and friend Pat Michaels, director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute. He will discuss his new book, Lukewarming: The New Climate Science that Changes Everything. You don’t want to miss this exciting and informative event – as well as your chance to meet one of the leading climate scientists and communicators in the world! REGISTER HERE

Scalia Probably Favored an Amendments Convention — But Does It Matter?
Rob Natelson, The Daily Caller
A majority of state legislatures have voted to trigger the U.S. Constitution’s most important procedure for reforming the federal government. Advocates for this rely on a supportive statement made by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in 1979, when he was still a law professor. Opponents counter with a 2014 statement they claim contradicts his earlier one. Was Scalia inconsistent? Did he change his mind after he became part of the government? Or, can these two statements be reconciled? The answer is: They probably can be reconciled – and in a way helpful to those supporting a convention. READ MORE

School Reform News: Congressional Republicans Introduce School Choice Bills
The May 2017 edition of School Reform News is available online in PDF format. In this edition, read about several new bills aiming to increase school choice that are now under consideration in Congress. These include the All Students Act, which would allot $14.5 billion for low-income students to attend a private or public school of their choice, and the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Individuals and Communities through Education Act (CHOICE), which would create grants for special-education school choice programs and provide aid to military families. READ MORE

Analysis: Real Health Care Reforms Pass the ‘Calendar Test’
Robert Graboyes, Health Care News
There’s good reason debate the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and Republicans’ attempts to repeal and replace ACA are so acrimonious. I call it the “Calendar Test” and outlined it recently. The Calendar Test is a thought experiment that asks whether a reform can improve some people’s well-being without harming others, based on the time required to provide quality patient care. Proposals failing the test are merely redistributive – a zero-sum game with winners and losers. READ MORE

Wind Energy to Pay Own Way Under Proposed Oklahoma Budget
Kathy Hoekstra, Environment & Climate News
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) has proposed ending subsidies for wind-energy producers and instead taxing them to reduce the state’s budget gap. Wind-energy producers in Oklahoma may soon have to give money to the state instead of taking it, leveling a playing field critics say has been unfair for far too long. READ MORE

Bonus Podcast: Donn Dears: Clexit for a Brighter Future
Donn Dears, author of Clexit for a Brighter Future: The Case for Withdrawing from the United Nations Climate Treaties, appeared on the Heartland Daily Podcast to discuss the costs the world will face if we attempt to end or nearly end fossil-fuel use, as many international climate treaties demand. Dears argues cutting greenhouse-gas emissions at the levels required by treaty are impossible, and the attempt to do so will leave the world’s most impoverished people poorer and hungrier than they would be if the developing world were to embrase fossil fuels. LISTEN TO MORE

Depositing Ed Department in History’s Trash Bin Would Boost U.S. Education
Robert Holland, Breitbart
Closing down the U.S. Education Department could be a snap compared to repealing and replacing Obamacare. A bill filed by libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on the day Betsy DeVos was confirmed as education secretary would start the beginning of the Education Department’s deconstruction with just one wonderfully succinct sentence: “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.” That is the entirety of Massie’s bill. The contrast with hard-to-fathom legislation running hundreds or even thousands of pages is refreshing. READ MORE

Congress Must Rein in the Regulatory State
H. Sterling Burnett, Breaking Energy
Congress has done much to roll back the imperialist orders of former President Barack Obama, but to truly rein in the actions of unaccountable federal bureaucrats, they must pass laws reclaiming its constitutionally defined role as the sole creator of law. Congress can start with the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, which targets abuses from the executive branch. A second wave of reform would include the Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act of 2017, which would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing regulations based on science not transparent to the public. READ MORE