A seemingly technical accounting issue has important implications for competition between large corporations and smaller firms, for U.S. businesses overseas, and for the ability of individuals to understand the true financial condition of the firms in which they invest.
President Obama recently proposed requiring employers to pay sick leave to the estimated 43 million American workers who not receive this benefit. Many of these workers cannot afford unpaid sick days to for an illness or to care for a sick child.
The rate of growth of health spending remains moderate, but one area where prices appear to be increasing faster than in recent years is brand-name prescription drugs.1 Many blockbuster drugs lost their patents by 2012 and many people looked forward to a future when we could all get a month’s-long supply of generic drugs for $4. It did not quite work out that way.
Health Information Technology (HIT) includes a wide range of products, technologies and services, such as electronic health records (EHRs), mobile and telehealth technology, cloud-based services, medical devices, and remote monitoring devices, assistive technologies and sensors.
President Obama has proposed to give community college students two “free” years of community college at an projected cost of nearly $70 billion (ultimately to be paid for by workers who don’t go to college).
In 2014, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan introduced a proposal to consolidate federal antipoverty programs called Expanding Opportunity in America. Ryan’s plan focuses on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), housing and home-energy assistance, education assistance, food stamps (SNAP) and criminal sentencing reform.
Recent efforts by federal, state and local governments and private sector demand have made STEM-related fields of study much more accessible to students across the country. Both private and public school choice are providing students educational opportunities focused on STEM — the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The nation’s supply of financial capital consists largely of the flow of savings from American households. However, in today’s monetary environment, savers are pressed — they might as well put their dollar bills under a mattress.
Today, more than 800 million people are malnourished, meaning they do not get the minimum energy requirements set by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of 1,690 calories per day for an urban adult and 1,650 calories for a rural dweller.
A well-known provision of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) required states to expand Medicaid eligibility to individuals with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) or face the loss of federal matching funds for the joint federal-state health program for the poor.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is having a profound effect on the labor market and raising the cost of health benefits for both employers and individuals. The impact on small businesses is especially acute.
Nuclear energy promised to generate low-cost electricity safely, with fewer environmental and health problems from air and water pollution than fossil-fueled power plants. For a number of reasons, that promise has not been fulfilled.
Despite the president’s assurance that “if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan,” Obamacare caused significant disruption to people’s coverage as the health insurance exchanges prepared for their first open enrollment. Beginning October 1, 2013, insurers knew they would struggle to price policies in the exchanges accurately.
There is widespread agreement among education reformers that public school teachers should be hired based on their subject matter competence rather than their formal credentials; that the best teachers should be assigned to the lowest performing schools; and that teachers should be paid based on performance rather than tenure.
For years, health care spending has outpaced economic growth. However, in 2012, health care spending as a share of the economy declined slightly for the second year in a row, based on official government statistics released at the outset of 2014. This news was greeted in some quarters as evidence that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was beginning to bend the cost curve downward.
India is one of the top global leaders in the generic pharmaceutical drug market. The third largest drug producer in the world, India is also the second largest exporter of generic drugs to the United States, behind only Canada. India’s success in pharmaceutical manufacturing prompted President Pratibha Patil to declare, in 2010, that the next 10 years will be India’s “decade of innovation.”
Four years after its passage, Obamacare has now been largely implemented, and millions have had their coverage disrupted. For years, the administration has propagated a number of myths about Obamacare. Some have already crumbled, and others will fall as Obamacare continues to change the American health system.
Poverty has exploded to record levels under President Obama.
Last year, the U.S. Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA), allowing states to require online retailers to collect and remit sales taxes for each buyer’s state. Though the House of Representatives is unlikely to pass the bill anytime soon, the issue will likely come up again. Under the Senate bill, online retailers could collect an estimated $22 billion to $24 billion in sales tax that now goes uncollected.1
TRICARE, the military health insurance program run by the Department of Defense, has a well-deserved reputation for inadequate quality at an exorbitant public cost. Drastic changes to this program are needed to ensure access to health care for 9.6 million active-duty service members, National Guardsmen and Reservists, retired service members (age 60 and above), survivors and their families.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have a negative impact on seniors. A portion of ACA funding is derived by cutting $716 billion from the Medicare program over the next decade — which could reduce seniors’ access to care. One provision includes a 25 percent fee reduction for physicians who treat Medicare enrollees.
Arkansas has moved most of its Medicaid enrollees into privately-administered managed care plans. Currently, half a million Arkansas beneficiaries are enrolled in managed care. This is equivalent to nearly 80 percent of the Medicaid population in Arkansas before the state expanded eligibility. However, the state has been very slow to move Medicaid enrollees to managed drug plans.
Oklahoma has moved most of its Medicaid enrollees into privately-administered managed care plans, under a program known as SoonerCare. The state should also move Medicaid enrollees to managed drug plans. Virtually all state Medicaid programs distribute some drugs on a fee-for-service (FFS) basis separately from any health plan.
Wisconsin has moved about two-thirds of its Medicaid enrollees into privately administered managed care plans, known as BadgerCare. However, the state has been very slow to move Medicaid enrollees into managed drug plans. Virtually all state Medicaid programs distribute some drugs on a fee-for-service (FFS) basis separately from enrollees’ health plans.
A San Francisco-based think tank has proven the obvious: If disadvantaged kids are orphaned by their living but irresponsible or abusive parents, then moved from one foster-care placement to the next, they will fall behind in school and develop a substantial achievement gap compared to their peers from stable homes.