Anti-abortion politicians never intended to support women and children

June 8, 2023June 7, 2023 healthcare, News, Opinion

It’s been one year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and conservative states have had plenty of time to enact the policies to support women, children and families that they promised to prioritize once they reached their goal of banning abortion.

Immediately following the June 24, 2022, decision, politicians assured us that their post-Roe plans included supporting women and children. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said “Being pro-life means being pro-mothers, pro...

Ron DeSantis’s underrated assets, and his Achilles heel

June 7, 2023June 5, 2023 Donald Trump, News, Opinion

Ron DeSantis is being harshly characterized by Democrats and attacked by Donald Trump. He has suffered steep declines in Republican poll ratings, and the flawed announcement of his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president added to his negatives.

The Florida governor's poll ratings have not risen signiﬁcantly in spite of a great deal of establishment conservative support.

Yet DeSantis' assets and political potential are arguably underrated.
...

America’s health care paradox: We need smarter spending, not more

June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 healthcare, News, Opinion

It’s an old American story: We pay more for health care than any other country on the planet, yet outcomes lag those of other developed nations. This embarrassing fact keeps us obsessed with cutting health care costs, presumably so that lower costs better reflect the lower value of our health care investment.

But there is another way to achieve value, and that is by changing how we spend our $4.3 trillion in annual health expenditures.

O...

Boosting Medicare Advantage can improve health care quality and costs

May 25, 2023May 24, 2023 healthcare, News, Opinion

Ongoing concerns about rising health care costs and the looming fiscal insolvency of the Medicare program put increasing pressure on policymakers to rein in health care spending and preserve Medicare for future generations. One policy change could help maintain the program and move the health care system, as well as the way we pay for medical services, in a more sustainable direction. And, unlike most health care reforms, this one is remarkably simple.

The Hill

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Will millennials stay quiet in 2024?

May 24, 2023May 24, 2023 News, Opinion

The start of campaign season will bring potentially heated and awkward political conversations between average Americans and their coworkers, family and acquaintances. While voters and pundits alike will use their anecdotal experience in these interactions to claim to know which way the country is headed, new polling data suggests that might not be the best evidence.

According to a recent poll from State Policy Network (where I am a fellow), three out of five voters keep their...

Work requirements are a policy failure: Why are they still an option?

May 23, 2023May 22, 2023 News, Opinion

Bringing people into the workforce and helping them stay there should be a national priority. So should be ensuring that everyone has their basic needs met.

We’ve reached an inflection point in our economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate currently stands at 3.4 percent — one of the lowest on record and far below the nearly 15 percent rate at the outset of the pandemic. But the labor force participation rate (the s...

Work requirements are a policy failure: Why are they still an option?

May 23, 2023May 22, 2023 News, Opinion

Bringing people into the workforce and helping them stay there should be a national priority. So should be ensuring that everyone has their basic needs met.

We’ve reached an inflection point in our economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate currently stands at 3.4 percent — one of the lowest on record and far below the nearly 15 percent rate at the outset of the pandemic. But the labor force participation rate (the s...

It’s time to address the unaffordability of affordable health care

April 21, 2023April 21, 2023 healthcare, News, Opinion

President Biden’s proposal to open Obamacare plans and Medicaid to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients marks the most recent effort to expand federally subsidized health insurance programs. These expansions, however, come with an inconvenient truth: They inflate prices for unsubsidized commercial patients and payers.

Our new study documents that between 2011 and 2021, after adjusting for medical price inflation, median unsubsidized premiums for in...

It’s time to address the unaffordability of affordable health care

April 21, 2023April 21, 2023 healthcare, News, Opinion

President Biden’s proposal to open Obamacare plans and Medicaid to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients marks the most recent effort to expand federally subsidized health insurance programs. These expansions, however, come with an inconvenient truth: They inflate prices for unsubsidized commercial patients and payers.

Our new study documents that between 2011 and 2021, after adjusting for medical price inflation, median unsubsidized premiums for in...

Will Biden’s zigzag strategy work?

April 19, 2023April 19, 2023 News, Opinion

In 1996, President Clinton pursued a reelection strategy of “triangulation” — politically, a made-up term that meant running to the middle in order to win, a tried-and-true strategy that worked for Clinton as it has for many others in American presidential politics.

For President Biden, “triangulation” is not on the table given the highly polarized nature of American politics. His own progressive left base won’t hear of it. Instead, Biden is pursuing a more modest “zigzag” str...