Publications
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States Should Protect Patients from AI and Federal Regulators
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Last year, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) shut down its chatbot named “Tessa” after the group’s executive director found the service was directing patients seeking “eating disorder” information to ways to lose “one to two pounds a week” by limiting calorie intake to 2,000 per day. -
- Health Care News
Biden-Harris Plan Offer ‘Bribe’ to Medicare Drug Insurers
Publication -The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says it will cost taxpayers more than $25 billion to “paper over” a Medicare drug premium price jump created when the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) shifted the burden of drug price cuts to Part D insurers. The result has been a 22 percent jump in 2025 Medicare Part D premiums […] -
- Health Care News
Empowerment Accounts Can Fix Restrictive HSAs – Commentary
Publication -By Robert Koshnick, M.D. In the early 1970s, Paul Ellwood, M.D., the “father of the HMO” convinced President Richard Nixon that physicians who owned their clinics were greedy entrepreneurs. Ellwood’s solution, to have corporations manage people’s health care expenditures, led to the HMO Act of 1973. Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) were given the right to […] -
Research & Commentary: Texas Falls Farther Behind on Education Freedom
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The Heritage Foundation has released the latest version of its Education Freedom Report Card, and the Lone Star State is not faring particularly well. Texas fell seven spots overall from 2023, and now sits at fifteenth in the rankings, which is not ideal but still leaves the state in a comparatively good position. However, it […] -
Research & Commentary: Report Finds ‘Substantial’ Public School Enrollment Declines Since Pandemic School Closures
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute finds that more than 5,000 public schools, nearly one in every 12 public schools across the country, have seen enrollment decline by a “substantial” amount since the COVID-19 pandemic and the forced closure of these schools for significant periods of time. Further, public schools that are […] -
Research & Commentary: States Turn to Reference-Based Pricing to Reduce Health Care Costs
Publication -State health care budgets are driven by many costs that are difficult and, in some cases, impossible to predict. For instance, an unexpected economic downturn can lead to massive job losses, thereby driving up the number of people on public health care programs. Moreover, under these circumstances, states experience a double whammy as tax revenue […] -
Research & Commentary: Report Details ESG Threat to Public Pension Funds from Proxy Voting Advisory Service Firms
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A new report from Life:Powered, a national initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, finds that state pension systems, while for the most part not actively promoting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, are still being pushed into ESG trends by proxy voting advisory service firms like Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). ESG […] -
- Health Care News
Study Points to Why Generic Drugs in the U.S. Are the Lowest in the World
Publication -The United States appears to have the most competitive market for generic drugs among high-income countries, according to a new study. Prices in eight high-income countries under study dropped by between 30 to 82 percent within eight years after going off patent, with the biggest price decline occurring in the United States (82 percent). U.S. […] -
Ranked Choice Voting: A Major Threat to Free, Fair, and Secure Elections
Publication -Policy Briefs -Ultimately, RCV undermines our electoral system and should concern all those who value election integrity and fairness in the democratic process. -
Research and Commentary: Arizona Attempts to Protect Political Candidates from Big Tech Censorship
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A bill that would protect elected officials and candidates on social media platforms has been engrossed by the Arizona Senate and awaits its fate in the Arizona House of Representatives. Arizona Senate Bill 1124 stipulates that a social media website shall not deplatform a candidate who is known by the social media platform to be a candidate, […] -
Research and Commentary: Postmortem: Oklahoma Takes a Strong Stance Against Censorious Big Tech Practices
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A bill that would protect free speech on social media platforms was considered in the Oklahoma Senate this year. OK SB 1996 establishes a cause of action for social media website users whose content has been deleted or censored based on their political or religious speech. Senate Bill 1996 also requires social media websites to maintain consistency […] -
- Health Care News
Employer Vaccination Mandates Under Scrutiny Post COVID-19
Publication -From presidential candidate Donald Trump’s promise to reinstate military members who were fired for not getting COVID-19 shots to a federal court decision favoring employee vaccination preferences, vaccine mandates at work appear to be coming to an end. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, Illinois ruled employees at Wisconsin health care system Aspirus, Inc. […] -
New European Union ESG Law Will Eliminate Economic Freedom, Individual Liberty, and U.S. Sovereignty
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -If the CSDDD goes unanswered, America will effectively become a vassal state of the European Union and be fundamentally transformed through corporate coercion. -
Research and Commentary: Postmortem: Wisconsin Assembly Tackles Social Media Censorship
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A bill that would protect free speech on social media platforms made its way through the Wisconsin Assembly this year. WI AB 895 establishes requirements for social media websites concerning content moderation practices and establishes a private cause of action against social media websites for violations of said content-moderation practices. AB 895 attempts to address issues related […] -
- Health Care News
How Government Can Improve Health: Stop Penalizing Marriage – Commentary
Publication -There are more than 61 million married couples in the United States. That is 122 million people, not including their children. A new study by the University of Toronto found marriage is especially good for older men’s health and is pretty good for women, too. Married women, and single women who have never married, age better than […] -
Research and Commentary: Postmortem: Kansas Senate Takes a Consumer Protection Approach to Big Tech Censorship of Political Speech
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A bill that would protect free speech on social media platforms was considered in the Kansas Senate this year. KS SB 50 prohibits the censorship of political information and political expression on social media platforms. Under this bill, censorship by social media platforms would be considered a violation of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. Any person […] -
The Uniform Law Commission’s Public-Health Emergency Authority Act: A Severe Threat to Democratic Institutions and Individual Liberty
Publication -Policy Tip Sheets -The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) has drafted a model bill—the Public-Health Emergency Authority Act (PHEAA)—that would both formally institutionalize the executive emergency powers wielded by state governors during the COVID-19 pandemic while also significantly strengthening them. -
Research & Commentary: Analysis Shows Renewable Energy Subsidies Added $20 Billion In Costs to Texas Ratepayers
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A recent analysis from Energy Alliance details how federal, state, and local policies subsidizing “renewable” energy sources such as wind and solar have added nearly $20 billion in costs to ratepayers in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). This amounts to more than 42 percent of the total cost of electricity to ERCOT ratepayers, […] -
Research and Commentary: Postmortem: California Legislation Classifies Social Media Platforms as Traditional First Amendment Forums
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A bill that classifies social media platforms as traditional First Amendment platforms made its way through the California Assembly this year. CA AB 836 relies heavily on constitutional law and existing case law to define a social media platform as a traditional First Amendment forum and requires social media platforms located in California to develop a policy […] -
- Health Care News
Public Lost Trust in Doctors after COVID-19: Survey
Publication -Trust in doctors and hospitals decreased significantly following COVID-19, a new study has found. Trust in doctors and hospitals dropped by about 31 percentage points between April 2020 and January 2024, from 71.5 percent to 40.1 percent. The decrease was noted across all sociodemographic groups. Adults who were vaccinated or received COVID-19 boosters were more […] -
Research & Commentary: Report Show Pennsylvania School Choice Students Outpacing Their Public School Peers
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A new report from the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives details how students making use of Pennsylvania’s two education-choice programs, the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (OSTC) and the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC), are outperforming their public-school peers in educational attainment and academic proficiency. EITC and OSTC, both tax-credit scholarship programs, were […] -
- Health Care News
Duke Health Fires ER Doctor Who Questioned Racism Pledge – Commentary
Publication -By Mike Markham Duke University Health System fired Dr. Kendall Conger, an emergency room physician in its Raleigh, North Carolina hospital, for questioning Duke’s 2021 “pledge” against racism in medicine. Conger stated his views in a May 2023 Martin Center article, “Duke Health’s Antiracist ‘Pledge’ is Not Guided by Science.” Conger, a respected member of […] -
- Health Care News
Obamacare Premiums Rise Again, No End in Sight
Publication -Some 324 Obamacare insurers across the 50 states and the District of Columbia are proposing a median premium increase of seven percent for 2024, according to an annual analysis by Peterson and KFF. Growth in health care prices, increased utilization, and the costs of diabetes and weight-loss drugs are among the reasons health insurance companies […] -
Research & Commentary: New Report Shows Great Lakes States Could See Electricity Generation Shortfalls by 2027 Thanks to “Net Zero” Energy Plans
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A new report from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy details how “net zero” plans are threatening energy reliability for seven states in the Great Lakes region—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. “Net zero” refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere and the amount removed from […]
