In The News

IPI's Matthews noted Obamacare's expected 24 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursements coming Jan. 1. That issue has reared its head repeatedly, and each time Congress has stepped in to fix it by spending more money, but that can’t continue forever, he said.

It’s yet another unforeseen consequence of Obamacare. And unless Congress acts, we’re likely to see a huge exodus of doctors who will not accept either Medicare or Medicaid patients.

The public policy goal should be to meet our energy needs while doing as little damage as possible to the environment and the economy. Natural gas is helping us do that.

We’re being told the agreement with Iran is a historic step forward. But will we learn in a few weeks, perhaps through leaked emails or documents, that there are caveats that neither Obama nor Kerry are telling us that dramatically undermines all the happy talk?

Patient access to doctors is approaching a perfect storm of decreased physician supply, more demand for medical care—especially after Obamacare kicks in—and doctors increasingly refusing to see low-paying Medicare or Medicaid patients.  If the “promise” of Obamacare’s access to health care is to be kept, government will eventually have to force doctors to accept Obamacare-covered patients.

In addition to the new paper, the SBA Office of Advocacy has begun a social media campaign to promote both the paper and Internet sales taxes. IPI even found a list of suggested Twitter tweets that the Office of Advocacy wrote for supporters to use to promote the flawed report.

Attorney General Greg Abbott is pushing for more stringent privacy laws, looking to give Texans more control over personal information like DNA details. IPI's Bartlett Cleland said Abbott's proposals would help reduce the government’s power over personal information but disagreed with the method, saying an opt-in system would be the better option.

Polls regularly put Kennedy in the top 10 U.S. presidents and a recent Politico poll ranking the best presidents since 1950 has him in first place. Like another more-recent, young, telegenic, liberal presidential candidate, JFK may have brought new hope and promise to the White House, but not much more.

HHS plans to open up the money spigots if that’s what it takes to get the insurers on board in a last ditch effort to make the president’s health care law work.

There are a number of similarities between Obamacare and an energy mandate known as the "renewable fuel standard."