In The News

Even though President Obama promised that premiums for a family would be lower after his first term in office, prices are actually now $3,000 higher.

IPI's Dr. Merrill Matthews exposes how Democrats are doubling the tax obligation in the new Medicare tax: The wealthy may be paying the new rate of 3.8% now, but everyone else will also be paying some portion of it later.

Health insurance premiums could soar in Georgia as more provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act come into effect this year. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, actuary Mark E. Litow and IPI's Merrill Matthews predict that rates could climb 65 percent to 100 percent in states such as Georgia and Tennessee.

But what is really holding the music industry back isn’t the greed of the structure. It’s the greed of the people who believe they have the right to all the music they want without paying for it. For the love of music, buy the album and appreciate it for what it is worth.  

IPI's Merrill Matthews and actuary Mark Litow, in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, titled, "ObamaCare's Health-Insurance Sticker Shock," predict that Americans' healthcare insurance premiums will spike this year due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

As a consequence of some Obamacare requirements — such as the requirement that health insurers accept everyone who applies, never charge more based on serious medical conditions (modified community rating), and/or start paying for many often-uncovered medical conditions — health-insurance premiums have been going up. But not everyone is equally affected by the increase in premiums.

Thanks to mandates that take effect in 2014, premiums in individual markets will shoot up. Some may double.

As if the fiscal cliff, debt ceiling, higher taxes and a potential recession weren’t enough to scare employers, the Obama administration has just handed them one more headache: an IRS warning that any efforts to avoid the ObamaCare mandate to provide coverage or pay a penalty will not go unpunished.

A monthlong investigation by Rio Rancho police working with investigators from the Recording Industry Association of America culminated in the arrest and seizures of thousands of pirated CDs. One study by the Institute for Policy Innovation showed that music theft translates into more than 70,000 lost music community jobs and more than $2 billion in lost wages to American workers.

Switching to a pre-funded system similar to the Alternate Plan, even if it is only for new workers entering the system, means a day will come when we won't be adding even more unfunded liabilities or robbing from those who have paid in their entire working lives.