|
Healthcare
Research & Commentary: Physician-Owned Hospitals and the Affordable Care Act
While many hospitals have faced problems caused by the arrival of many new patients, the loss of doctors, and insufficient Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, only physician-owned specialty hospitals are banned from entering Medicare. In this Research & Commentary, Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans writes, “The success of physician-owned facilities demonstrates their model can deliver health care services of superior quality at lower prices compared to general hospitals.” Read More
Energy & Environment
Replacing the Environmental Protection Agency
A new Heartland Policy Brief by Science Director Dr. Jay Lehr outlines his plan to replace the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Once an important and necessary agency,Lehr says EPA has devolved into an obsolete and economically destructive agency that could be replaced by a “Committee of the Whole” consisting of the 50 state environmental protection agencies that did not exist when the original EPA was created. Read More
Budget & Tax
Research & Commentary: State Film Incentive
Thirty-nine state governments across the country have film incentive programs to entice motion picture production companies to film in their states. These incentives are in the form of tax credits and exemptions, grants, and cash rebates. In this Research & Commentary, Heartland’s state government relations coordinator, Alex Monahan, writes, “In practice, these programs have left taxpayers footing the bill for subsidizing an industry that creates temporary jobs with no discernible long-term benefit to local or state economies.” Read More
Education
Common Core Testing Groups Won’t Let Some States Go
It’s been almost a year since Indiana and Pennsylvania officially withdrew from national Common Core tests, but the testing organization still lists the two states as members on its Web site. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has issued letters withdrawing his state from PARCC (one of the testing groups), but the state superintendent and board of education are attempting to block his withdrawal. Read More
Telecom
House Passes Permanent Internet Tax Ban, Bill Goes to Senate
Last week, the House passed the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA) via voice vote, placing pressure on the Senate to pass its version of the act before November 1, when the current temporary moratorium on Internet access taxes expires. PITFA’s main sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, commended the vote, saying the ban was “important for our growing digital economy.” Read More
From Our Free-Market Friends
An Interstate Analysis of Right to Work Laws
In a new Issue Analysis, researchers for the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Mackinac Center for Policy Policy found evidence that suggests there is a considerable and positive relationship between economic growth in a state and the existence of a right to work law. “This paper presents a labor economics analysis of the effect of right to work laws on state economies, and ranks states’ per capita income loss from not having a RTW law.” Read More
|
