Search the News Archive

Amazon Launches Virtual Health Service for Common Problems Such as Allergies and Acne

"Amazon Clinic will offer users virtual care related to 20 common health conditions such as allergies, acne, and hair loss. The clinic would then guide users to purchase the products through Amazon's interface or local stores and clinics."

Proposed Stock Buyback Tax Would Hit Retirement Accounts, Business Groups Say

"The stock buyback plan, proposed as a compromise by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), is facing blowback from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The group said the tax proposal, which envisions a 1% excise tax on corporate buybacks, would filter down and have a deleterious effect on average investors."

Bailing Out the Central States Pension Plan: Some Retirees Are More Equal Than Others?

"[T]he bailout is based on investment returns equal to the low end of a plan's discount rate for 2019 or 5.5%. Central States used 3% for 2019, although pension promises were made in prior years using 7.5% and 8% ... [T]he ultimate heist would be for Central States to flip its interest rate back to 8% for purposes of future contributions while collecting from taxpayers at 3% ... For new pension promises due in 30 years, Central States would get $4 from taxpayers for every dollar it charges employers."

Congress Undermines More Retirement Plans with Union Pension Rules

"The budget bill adopts [a] flawed multiemployer-like approach, completely and permanently divorcing the measurement of pension promises from reality by instituting a 5% floor on discount rates, which is ten times the most recent rate for shorter term bonds, 0.50%.... Participants in troubled plans will be hurt the most."

To the Union Allies of the Victor Go the Pension Spoils

"Providing government funding to MEPs, including for promises they will make in the future, while weakening funding rules and rewarding MEPs for future misconduct is abusive to taxpayers.... In the long-run, it would be far less expensive for taxpayers to write a $673 billion check to cover existing underfunding and fix MEPs going forward."

Government Report Reveals CBO Was Scandalously Off in Obamacare Estimates

"In what was literally a footnote in its annual report on national health spending projections, actuaries for the [CMS] on Wednesday estimated that the elimination of the individual mandate would have a significantly smaller impact than the CBO has long estimated. Specifically, the CMS report revealed that 2.5 million more people would go without insurance in 2019 due to the repeal of the individual mandate's penalties, and the impact would be 'smaller' thereafter."

How Bernie Sanders' 'Medicare for All' Proposal Would Outlaw Private Healthcare Plans

"It's crystal clear the bill would eliminate every existing private insurance policy within four years, which would mean about 180 million individuals would have to give up the insurance they currently purchase on their own or through their employers.... [T]here's a limited claim that can be made that in theory, the bill, after getting rid of all existing policies, would allow private insurers to offer some supplemental benefits."

Obama's Fiduciary Rule Is Already Hurting Small Savers. Here's How to Roll It Back

"[The House Committee on Education and the Workforce] recently advanced the Affordable Retirement Advice for Savers Act, which will repeal the fiduciary rule and preserve access to affordable retirement advice. It also amends federal law to require retirement advisers to act in the best interests of their clients. Legislation -- not 1,000 pages of red tape -- is the right way to address an issue with such a widespread impact. This legislation proves we can hold financial advisers accountable without causing millions of Americans to lose access to affordable retirement advice."

Rep. Mark Meadows: New Healthcare Bill Is Coming 'That Can Get to 51'

"Rep. Mark Meadows [R-NC], a key negotiator in the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, said a new effort is underway to write a bill that can pass the Senate that would include proposals offered by Sens. Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Ted Cruz, and Rob Portman.... Meadows said he has talked to senators, including Graham, in the hours after this morning's failure to pass a 'skinny' repeal bill, and the mood is 'all hands on deck' to come up with a new deal."

The Truth Behind the CBO

"CBO economists are trained to apply Keynesian economic formulas to predict future consumer behavior, but their projections don't often account for common-sense realities, such as the wet blanket effect that Obamacare had on job creation and economic growth. Time and time again, their projections miss the mark because they don't consider economic reality.... [T]he updated CBO baseline for Obamacare showed that the exact same number of people would buy insurance in 2018 under the BCRA as would under Obamacare -- a figure which would be one million more than the 18 million currently on the individual market. More importantly, their projections miss the basic point that people are more likely to purchase an affordable product that meets their needs."