Spending in the U.S. health care system is growing too fast to ignore. Yet, the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (PPACA), also known as Obamacare, does nothing to “bend the cost curve.” Containing health spending requires engaging consumers in their health care expenditures, and one way to achieve this is through high-deductible health plans paired with Health Savings Accounts (HSA), which a recent report shows are gaining in popularity.
The Washington Post reports that “lawmakers speed up debt-reduction talks.” The headline of that story should read “Lawmakers speed up secret debt-limit talks; details scarce.” Once again, in classic Washington style, these talks are in secret and behind closed doors. Where is the transparency? The White House and congressional leaders are accelerating negotiations over the biggest debt-reduction package in at least two decades amid mounting concern that the effort is running out of time. Over the next six weeks, negotiators must strike a bipartisan compromise to slice more than $2 trillion …
Growing an herb (the legal kind) might seem pretty straightforward. Clear soil; plant seeds; water, fertilize, and harvest. Until the government gets involved, that is. Then we have the likes of Marketing Order No. 985 (7 CFR part 985), as amended. Just as with almonds, apricots, avocados, cherries (both sweet and tart), citrus (from Florida and Texas), cranberries, dates, grapes, hazelnuts, kiwis, nectarines, olives, onions (from Idaho, eastern Oregon, southern Texas and Walla Walla), peaches, pears (from Oregon and Washington), pistachios, plums, prunes (from California and Washington), potatoes (from Idaho, …
In a hospital room in Havana, Hugo Chavez sits in a track suit wanting people to believe that he is fit to lead, unaffected by a recent slippage of health. Yet, reading between the lines, Venezuela’s elected authoritarian is not in the pink. On June 10, Chavez checked into a Cuban hospital to have an abscess in his pelvis removed. As he recovers, the ailing Chavez is pictured fraternizing with his best friend and mentor, Fidel Castro, and current Cuban dictator Raul Castro. The official press in Venezuela has offered …
Government policies have made life difficult for middle-class families like Thomas and Melissa Clements. Their business in Broussard, LA, has suffered from the Obama administration’s offshore drilling moratorium and subsequent permitorium. Tomorrow morning Thomas is coming to Capitol Hill to talk about his struggles at a congressional hearing. Clements recently appeared in a video produced by Heritage and the Institute for Energy Research on the moratorium’s economic impact. His business, Oilfield CNC Machining LLC, has suffered from the government’s delays in permitting. This week’s hearing, organized by the Senate Health, …
All you are likely to hear about low tax rates from liberals and their echo chamber in the media is that they don’t work—that they fail to gin up economic or job growth. Exhibit A for this preposterous proposition is the Bush tax cuts. The left wants you to accept it as conventional wisdom that the policy was a bust. Don’t believe it. The tax cuts enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2003 were an important cause of an economic expansion that roared for some 50 months and created 8.1 …
During bilateral security talks, Washington and Tokyo affirmed their commitment to the 2009 bilateral Guam Agreement, which delineates the planned realignment of U.S. military forces in Japan. The June 21 Security Consultative Talks—comprised of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Minister of Defense Toshimi Kitazawa, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeaki Matusmoto—emphasized the need to complete plans to build a replacement facility for a U.S. Marine Corps air unit stationed on Okinawa.
America’s sluggish economy and mounting debt threaten to change the very fabric of our country as young people delay major life changes. New polling released by the upstart Generation Opportunity reveals the dramatic consequences facing America as the Millennials grow older. A staggering 77 percent of Americans age 18–29 say they have already delayed or will delay a major life change or purchase due to economic factors, according to a survey commissioned by Generation Opportunity with the polling company, Inc./WomanTrend. It has a margin of error of plus or minus …
It’s a big day in Washington for domestic and foreign news. This morning the Congressional Budget Office releases its annual Long-Term Budget Outlook. Then in the evening President Obama outlines his Afghanistan withdrawal plan in a primetime address beginning at 8. There are two noteworthy events happening at Heritage today: Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) visits at 9 a.m. to talk about making REAL ID a reality. Then at 10:30 a.m. we’ll host Arun Jaitley, leader of the Indian opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Jaitley (center in photo) will discuss how …
After three years, British citizen Andrew Symeou has been found not guilty by a Greek jury of fatally attacking another British vacationer on the island of Zante. However, this is no ordinary judicial outcome, for Andrew Symeou has endured injustices far beyond being falsely accused of murder.
