Lack Of Insurance No Barrier To Health Care In Texas
The major reason nearly one in four Texans lacks health insurance is an extensive system of free health care that makes private health insurance unattractive for many Texas families.
Private Wildlife Conservation
Government land use regulations in the United States discourage landowners from protecting wildlife. This is unfortunate, since private landowners control approximately 60 percent of the land base, and at least 80 percent of wildlife in the 48 contiguous states is dependent in whole or in part upon private land. The biggest threat to wildlife is loss of habitat. Without the cooperation of the private sector, public parks and wildlife refuges will become island ecosystems, and the future of animals existing on these lands will be in jeopardy.
The Warmest Year on Whose Record?
In January 1999 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that 1998 was the "warmest year on record." A year earlier NOAA had declared 1997 the "warmest year on record." Then in January 2000 NOAA proclaimed 1999 the "second warmest year on record."
Banning Roads, Burning Forests
The fires that swept through Los Alamos National Laboratory during June 2000 illustrate much of what is wrong with federal land management. A series of bad decisions the United States Forest Service made concerning a prescribed burn (a fire set to reduce undergrowth and prevent future wildfires) at Bandelier National Monument resulted in a fire that raged out of control. As high winds combined with an overabundance of dead and dying wood, the fire incinerated everything in its path, including 400 homes.
Environmental Politics Fan Flames of Western Wildfires
The United States is experiencing one of the worst wildfire seasons in a century.
Worst Fire Season In A Century Made Worse By Unwise Federal Policy, Says NCPA Report
Forest fires continue to rage throughout much of the western United States, turning 2000 into one of the worst fire seasons in a century. So far this year, more than 55,000 wild fires have blackened more than 4 million acres.
Uninsured in the Lone Star State
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 4.8 million of the 19.6 million Texas residents – about one in every four – are not covered by health insurance. Moreover, the proportion of uninsured has changed little in the past 10 years. However, in many cases the uninsured are uninsured by choice. And lacking health insurance does not mean lacking health care in Texas.
Life As A Positive-Sum Game
Most historians, and virtually everyone on the political left, views most human interactions as zero-sum (to borrow a term from game theory). One person's gain is another person's loss.
Focus Point – Regulating Cheese
Occasionally I mention Cindy Skruh-Zicki's column in the Washington Post. She covers regulators and their goofy rules. Recently, she outdid herself.
Focus Point – Saving MSAs
Medical savings accounts provide low-cost coverage to those who can't afford high health insurance premiums. But the program — one that was popularized by the NCPA's president John Goodman — will expire at the end of this year unless Congress extends it.
Focus Point – Texas Record On Education
In George W. Bush's wonderful convention acceptance speech, he warned democrats not to mess with Texas. Not that he expected them to listen. Looking for bad things in the lone star state is going to be a liberal past time between now and November.
Focus Point – Criminals
Almost 600,000 felons will be released from state and federal prisons this year. Sixty-two percent will be charged with new crimes. They were not rehabilitated.
Kow-Towing To Teachers' Unions Shortchanges Kids' Education
When the public schools, which now control 92 percent of all money spent on elementary and secondary education, know that parents have a choice of schools for their children, they will have to rely on more than duress to fill their buildings.
Focus Point – Arizona's Approach to Choice
You know how I feel about school choice. I'll take it any way I can get it, and Arizona may have a great way, according to a note from the Heritage Foundation.
A Prescription for Disaster
After watching the Democrat's convention, it's apparent that they believe prescription drug coverage is their key to the house – the White House, the U. S. House, the 50 state Houses, etc., etc. That's why between now and election day it will be difficult to read any campaign related news and not see something about prescription drugs.
Focus Point – Nader and the Dem Left
Maybe I'm reading too much into one article, but when one of the most liberal columnists — Ellen Goodman — from the one of the most liberal papers — The Boston Globe — all but swoons for Ralph Nader, I have to wonder how Al Gore feels.
Focus Point – The Lieberman Pick
If Al Gore was looking for a way to distance himself from Bill Clinton, he couldn't have made a more useful vice-presidential selection that Joseph Lieberman, the senator from Connecticut.
Focus Point – Choice as Civil Rights
Is school choice redefining the civil rights movement? That's the thesis of Mikel Holt's book "Not Yet Free at Last." He argues, in writing the history of the fight for school choice in Milwaukee, that choice empowers black parents by giving them control over their children's education.
South Africa's Battle with AIDS and Drug Prices
South Africa is mired in a health crisis as the rate of HIV infection reaches 22 percent of adults, including more than one in five pregnant women. The crisis is expensive. Drug treatment costs for AIDS range from $15,000 to $20,000 per year in the U. S., while per capita income in South Africa is only $6,800.
Focus Point – Alec Guinness
When Alec Guinness died last week, all the commentators noted of course that, to a younger generation of fans, he was known for his role in Star Wars.
South Africans Pay Less For Aids Drugs Than U.S. Patients
In recent months the South African government has accused U.S. manufacturers of HIV/AIDS drugs of price gouging. But are they?
Americans Support Personal Retirement Accounts
Polls consistently demonstrate the popularity of personal retirement accounts as an alternative to the current Social Security system. Younger voters overwhelmingly favor moving to a new system in which they can invest a portion of their payroll tax in a personal account that they can own and control. Indeed, Social Security reform has moved to the top of the agenda in the 2000 presidential race, with both candidates proposing competing visions of reform – and both including some form of personal retirement accounts.
Focus Point – Gore And Gas
It's a funny thing about Al Gore; he doesn't want to take credit for current gas prices. Yet of all the things he has taken credit for, this one is genuinely his responsibility. After all, in "earth in the balance," he wrote high gas prices were desirable as a national energy policy. And in 1993 he cast the tie-breaking vote for the gas tax increase.
New NCPA Poll Finds Wide Support for Personal Retirement Accounts for Social Security
On the sixty-fifth anniversary of the enactment of Social Security, a just released poll shows widespread support for using a portion of workers payroll tax dollars to create personal retirement accounts as part of Social Security reform.
Benefits Tax Pushes Some Seniors' Marginal Tax Rate Over 100 Percent, Says NCPA Report
Since 1993, middle-income Social Security recipients have been subject to income tax on up to 85 percent of their benefits.