Washington won’t fix health care
North Carolina’s Medicaid program will expand on December 1 to offer fully subsidized health plans to virtually every legal resident whose household income is at or below 138% of the federal poverty line. Notice I said “offer.” Many individuals and households who’ll now qualify for Medicaid are already enrolled in other health plans, either through...
NCInnovation looks a lot like ‘Bidenomics, has strong ties to Dems
A recent Economist magazine article examined President Joe Biden’s industrial policy approach, describing it as “place-based industrial policy.” The article describes such policies as directing tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to specific “struggling regions” in order to boost manufacturing capacity and hopefully incentivize private investment. Specific examples the article cites include $10 billion to...
Attempt to shame black legislators over budget vote backfires
After a long slog, the NC General Assembly passed a budget with supermajority support, including bipartisan support in the state House. Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper even said he’d rest his itchy veto finger and allow the bill to become law. Cooper, who has double the vetoes of all previous governors combined, decided not to add...
‘Regulatory dark matter’ could sink swimming pool app
On July 24, at the peak of a hot summer, a local news station in North Carolina reported on a new example of the sharing economy. It’s a swimming pool app that connects homeowners saddled with expensive swimming pools they rarely use to neighbors who’d like to take a peaceful dip in a private setting...
Safety first
Progressives may scoff, but data backs ‘two-parent privilege’
The political left loves to highlight the increasing rates of income inequality and declining rates of social mobility in recent decades. But progressives conveniently ignore one of the top drivers of these trends: a drop in the percentage of stable, two-parent households. Progressives struggle with this reality because it’s much easier — and more politically...
Kamala’s got it
Living in North Carolina still a bargain
Decades ago, when I moved back to North Carolina from the nation’s capital, my rent dropped by half — for a new apartment that was larger and better furnished than the one I rented just outside Washington, D.C. Today, my native state remains less expensive to live in than the average state. And even our...
Internationally trained doctors key to improving NC’s maternal mortality rates
Maternal mortality rates in North Carolina are climbing at an alarming rate. The CDC reports that over just a two-year span, the number of women who have died within six weeks of giving birth doubled — jumping from 22 deaths per 100,000 births to a staggering 44. And the growing lack of access to care,...
Transfers
Child sex abuse case reminds us about government’s built-in limits
A recent state Court of Appeals dissent reminds us that government rules limit officials' ability to act.