Nathan Benefield
Nathan Benefield is the Director of Policy Research with the Commonwealth Foundation, an independent, non-profit public policy research and educational institute located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Nathan has researched and written on public policy issues including taxation, government spending, education reform, transportation funding, health care policy, and economic development. Nathan has had editorials featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, the Allentown Morning Call, and dozen of other papers across Pennsylvania. Nathan has provided testimony to Pennsylvania House and Senate Committees related to the state budget and transportation funding.
Nathan is a graduate of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, also earning a masters degree in public service management from DePaul. He is currently working to complete his doctoral dissertation in political science from Loyola University of Chicago.
Nathan is a resident of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008Government Health Care KillsPennsylvania Governor's demagoguery masks problems with government health coverage By Nathan BenefieldCategories: PennsylvaniaPennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is calling on the Pennsylvania Senate leadership to break their pledge not to hold a lame duck session. Among Rendell's rhetorical arguments is that "nearly two people a day die in Pennsylvania because of a lack of health insurance." The Commonwealth Foundation's response, tongue-in-cheek, is that 10 Pennsylvanians die every day because of government involvement in health care. Of course, no one really dies because they lack insurance or because they enroll in Medicaid, but the point (besides exposing Rendell's demagoguery) is that government health insurance—which Governor Rendell sees as the solution—is worse than the disease. Instead, we should look to options that allow more individuals to enroll in private coverage.
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Thursday, October 16, 2008Health Care at a CrossroadsBy Nathan BenefieldCategories: How Many Uninsured?Bob Moffit of Heritage writes that we are at a crossroads in health care in term of the difference between McCain and Obama's proposals. The Commonwealth Foundation has said much the same thing about the divergent paths we face in health care reforms at the state level. Moffit also seems to be one of few who have noted Obama's "pay or play mandate," though I'm not sure why he doesn't compare Obama's plan to the failure of RomneyCare:The Obama plan is comprehensive in scope, but sparse in detail. ... Independent analysts expect that Obama’s creation of a new national health plan within a federally run “health insurance exchange” would lead to a rapid erosion of private coverage in general and employer-based coverage in particular. ... Independent analysts generally see McCain’s proposal as a bold and innovative change in health care financing. Powered by a universal health care tax credit, the tax policy change would result in a rapid expansion in private health insurance coverage and a decrease in dependency on government programs. While some critics imply that McCain’s proposal to tax health benefits to finance the tax credit amounts to a tax increase, the indisputable truth is that it is a major tax cut, particularly for the middle class.David Gratzer also has a piece detailing why Obama's attack on McCain's plan is unfair, noting (among other things), that there is no reason why employers would stop providing health care plans: But it’s difficult to understand why employers would run for the exits. Under the McCain plan, they would still be allowed to take tax deductions on payroll, as they do now (no raising of costs here). By one estimate, the total number of insured Americans would increase under the McCain plan as Americans—including many currently uninsured—opt to buy insurance directly, armed with a tax credit. That estimate may be quite conservative, since the McCain plan would also let people purchase health coverage across state lines, allowing them to shop around for better deals and making coverage more affordable for all. A recent study suggests that even without the tax credit, 12 million uninsured would get insurance through such a reform alone.Finally, there is the "Gillespie plan" - this video from the Reason Foundation in which Nick Gillespie details his plan: "If you want health insurance, get some."
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Friday, October 3, 2008New Report Compares US and Canadian Health CareBy Nathan BenefieldCategories: Single-Payer FolliesI doubt this will surprise regular readers of this blog, but Canada's single payer health system isn't all that Michael Moore makes it out to be. From a new report of the Fraser Institute.
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Thursday, October 2, 2008Matthews in WSJ on Interstate Health InsuranceBy Nathan BenefieldWriting in the Wall Street Journal, Merrill Matthews says that John McCain's plan to allow individuals and small businesses to buy insurance across state lines - a policy championed in Congress by John Shadegg and in the Pennsylvania Senate by Mike Folmer - would be a positive change for millions of Americans seeking lower priced health insurance. He also notes that Barack Obama, though opposing such change, isn't subject to the restriction himself, as the program for federal employees is, obviously, a national market.
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Thursday, October 2, 2008Rendell continues push for "Cover All Pennsylvanians"By Nathan BenefieldCategories: PennsylvaniaPennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has revised his proposal to increase government spending and eligibility for health insurance yet again. The latest edition has lowered the cost of the program by reducing the number of expected enrollees. The latest edition responds to criticisms that the original proposal cost too much, but not to the analysis that it doesn't "cover all Pennsylvanians,” it doesn't benefit those currently struggling with the rising cost of insurance, it will result in "crowd out,” and won't actually reduce the number without insurance. His compromise includes restoring the MCare abatement fund (which expired earlier this year, and he was using as leverage) – a funding source which subsidizes medical malpractice insurance by taxing smokers – and perhaps the Senate Republicans plan to offer tax credits for donations to free clinics. Giving the looming budget deficit, it is hard to see how this minor scale back will be affordable. While there has been a push for some real health care reform in both the PA House and Senate, those proposals have been largely ignored.
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Tuesday, September 30, 2008Bailing out MassachusettsBy Nathan BenefieldCategories: Massachusetts, MedicaidThe Foundry Blog of the Heritage Foundation has discovered that the federal government will "bail out" Massachusetts troubled health care plan (e.g. RomneyCare) with a $4.2 billion increase (to $21 billion) in Medicaid funding for Massachusetts. The program had dramatically exceeded its projected costs and is not delivering the effect of universal coverage proponents had hoped for (even though that is an ill-conceived goal). Oh, and remember how proponents of extended government insurance claim it will actually save money by reducing uncompensated care passed on to taxpayers (i.e. through Medicaid). Yeah, that didn't happen either.
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008PA Senate passes "slacker mandate"By Nathan BenefieldCategories: PennsylvaniaThe Pennsylvania Senate today passed by a 50-0 vote a "slacker mandate," (SB 1453) requiring insurance companies to cover single, childless children of policy holders (at the policy holders discretion)up to age 30. Study after study show that health care mandatesdrive up the cost of insurance - and this cost is why many go without insurance. But instead of addressing the cost drivers in health care, proponents of the "slacker mandate" look to more regulation to try and force insurance companies to cover more people - even though slacker mandates fail to do so.
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Friday, September 5, 2008McCain and Obama on Health CareBy Nathan BenefieldWhile health care policy won't getthe level ofmedia coverage as Sarah Palin's teenage daughter or Barack Obama's crazy pastor, some people might be interested in looking at the candidates proposals on that. The NCPA has put together a brief analysis of both the McCain plan and the Obama plan. - The John McCain Health Plan The Cato Institute also released a policy brief a few weeks ago describing the McCain and Obama plans on health care. [Editor's note: The focus here is on state rather than national politics, but there are a few rare exceptions. With the national conventions over, it may be worthwhile to take a glance at what's going on with the presidential candidates. We now resume our look at state issues.]
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Monday, August 4, 2008Fixing Medicaid in PABy Nathan BenefieldCategories: Medicaid, PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth Foundation released a report by Michael Bond on reforming Medicaid in the Keystone state in May (I am tardy in blogging on the subject). Bond writes:
Click here for the full report (PDF file).
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008The Church of SCHIPBy Nathan BenefieldCategories: SCHIPMichael Cannon pulls a troubling quote from an advocate of SCHIP expansion, who admits his support is based on faith, not evidence.Of course Cannon is a well-known heathen.
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