Rhode Island’s Pursuit of “Dependency Portal” Vindicates Gov. Christie’s Veto of Exchange, N.J. Delegation Says

By resisting the health care exchange system included as part of the new federal health care law, Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has put himself in a stronger position to safeguard taxpayer interests, according to key figures in the state’s delegation to the National Convention in Tampa, FL.

Pieces in Place for Dependency Portal with Health Exchange Board Members

Rhode Island’s Health Benefit Exchange Board includes special interest groups like the Economic Progress Institute, which have worked to expand the scope and reach of various welfare programs. EPI is well positioned to convert the exchange into a “dependency portal.”

What the Dependency Portal Changes

Responding to disagreement, Justin expounds on the problem with “dependency portals.”

Barro’s Welfare Error

Compartmentalizing society, with business tasked with maximizing profit and government tasked with picking up the pieces, is another example of how big finance is distorting both the economy and the government, in Justin’s view.

Ronald Reagan’s “Welfare Queens” Re-emerge as Debate Intensifies over “Dependency Portal”

Tea Party activists see a return of the “welfare queen” in health benefit exchange “dependency portals” and President Obama’s policy on work rules for welfare.

The Real Motivation of ObamaCare

In almost presidential election cycle, partisans on both sides claim that the public is about to vote “in the most important election of their lifetime.” This time around, it may actually be true. Our own Justin Katz has pieced together some documentation from the Urban Institute and The Center for Law and Social Policy that demonstrate how Rhode […]

Bringing the Dependency Portal into Focus

The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity has created a page to trace the development of Rhode Island’s “dependency portal.”

Hopkins Center Milton Party (and Thoughts on the Fuel of Capitalism)

The Stephen Hopkins Center birthday celebration for Milton Friedman raised questions of justice and virtue.

The Context of the President’s Context

Even more context for President Obama’s Roanoake speech produces even worse context, in Justin’s view.

Rhode Island Sees Long-Term Potential for Expanded Welfare Services Through Health Care Exchange

RI officials acknowledge, but downplay, the intention to link additional government services to the state’s health benefits exchange. But advocates for smaller government see a pattern in federal and state efforts to make various public payments easier to get.

Costantino, Ferguson, and Roberts Describe “Unified Infrastructure”

The audio in which RI Health & Human Services Secretary Steven Costantino, Health Benefits Exchange Director Christine Ferguson, and Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts describe their vision of dependency portals.

Exchanges and Medicaid Expansion Move Health Care in the Wrong Direction

A policy brief for the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity finds multiple reasons for the state to pull back from its plans to implement a health benefits exchange and to expand Medicaid.

Rhode Island Cities and Towns, Where They Are and Where They’ve Been, Part 3

The final part of this series groups communities by income and population change, finding clear distinctions suggestive of different strategies for moving the state forward.

Rhode Island Cities and Towns, Where They Are and Where They’ve Been, Part 1

The Current’s long-running review of population and employment data can lead to better understanding of who is being affected by public policy in Rhode Island and how. Part 1 reviews how the cities and towns compare right now.

Kauffman/Thumbtack: RI Small Business Friendliness an F

In keeping with past experience, Kauffman/Thumbtack study finds RI to be dead last in the nation for small business friendliness.

Medicaid Waiver Reform Saved Tens of Millions, Although ObamaCare/ARRA Curtailed Savings

Despite some local journalists’ reports, RI’s Medicaid Global Waiver reform has saved $55.2 million within the first year and a half of implementation, and would have saved more but for ObamaCare and federal stimulus legislation.

UPDATED: Tax Reform and Medicaid Money-Go-Round

RI’s income tax reform affected taxpayers with little income beyond what they pay for medical care. As the state seeks to fill in the gap for low-income Medicaid recipients, the gravity of government complexity grows.

The Technocrats’ Deal with the Devil

The intricate machinations suggested by Gary Sasse in the “tax-the-rich” debate raise the question of whether RI can afford the risk (or the wait) involved with technocratic designs.

04/24/12 – House Finance Committee

The House Finance committee hears a variety of tax proposals, mainly concentrating on taxing “the rich”; Justin writes live.

04/16/12 – Don Watkins at Brown

Justin writes live from Don Watkins talk to the Brown Republicans on entitlements.

The Downer Side of Centralization and Lost Social Capital

An interview with Charles Murray leads Justin to muse on the possibility that avoiding judgmentalism in the name of tolerance might just make it less likely that others will have the opportunity to judge us good and worthy of advancement.

Social Issues, Economic Issues, and Marriage

In Justin’s view, marriage as a social issue is inevitably bound up with other policies as small-government issues, and in a way that both “economically conservative social liberals” and “big-government traditionalists” ought to consider.

Hal Meyer: Revisiting My Former Home from the Outside

Hal Meyer reflects on his move from Rhode Island to Idaho.

Video of 2012 RISC Winter Meeting

Video of RISC’s 2012 Winter Meeting, featuring Central Falls Receiver Robert Flanders, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, Woonsocket Mayor Loe Fontaine, Providence advisor Gary Sasse, and Rep. Larry Ehrhardt.

Mobility Has Held, but Perception and Perspective Have Changed

Economic mobility has improved or held steady over the past half-decade, but public perception is otherwise. Arguing hopelessness or dependence may reinforce the trend.

Assistance by Another Path

While public assistance costs certainly bear watching, the larger reason for concern may not be that payments to individuals are growing and going to more people, or even that they’re covering more exigencies, but that the deepening involvement of government in private industry is making it more and more difficult to tell who is forcing whom to give what to whom else.

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