By Brooke L. Rollins
Three weeks ago I shared with you how the Texas Public Policy Foundation was taking action on a national scale to confront one of the greatest threats our nation has faced: a nationalized health care system. As a result of this effort and many others America is figuring out the devastating effect of Washingtons plan to control your health care.
As you have probably heard we have made progress. There have been indications that the public option" may be dropped from the plan in lieu of government-controlled health insurance co-ops but we arent ceasing our campaign for liberty. As one of my colleagues termed it yesterday during our staff meeting If the public option is the non-stop flight to socialized medicine health care co-ops and greater federal interference in private health insurance represent the plane change in Atlanta route to the same destination."
Our primary response to the threat of government-run health care was to produce principled research by internationally acclaimed economist Dr. Arthur Laffer entitled The Prognosis for National Health Insurance." In the days following the national release of the paper the research was taken to a national audience:
- The research was featured in national television outlets such as CNN FOX News CNBCs Squawk on the Street" and Bloombergs Inside Look;"
- Dr. Laffer appeared on the Rush Limbaugh radio show while Donna Arduinanother of the papers authorsappeared on the Laura Ingraham radio show;
- The Associated Press story about the research was used by outlets including Reuters Forbes Yahoo! and CNBC;
- Dr. Laffers August 5th Wall Street Journal op-ed was one of the most viewed and e-mailed items on the papers website; and
- Our work was applauded and referenced by leaders such as former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
This kind of media coverage in addition to the papers website
www.lafferhealthcarereport.org shared our free market message with more than 61 million individuals. To give Washington the final push they need to abandon government-provided health care the next phase of our outreach campaign involves releasing state-specific research that demonstrates the impact of the proposed health plan in 10 key states. So far weve had the following accomplishments in this phase of the campaign:
- On Tuesday August 18th we held a successful press conference with Governor Rick Perry and several business and health care industry leaders to release the Texas-specific research which found that each Texan would pay an additional $4265 in taxes per year over the next 10 years under the proposed plan; and
- The press conference was attended by several Austin television stations (including the CBS ABC and FOX affiliates) as well as reporters from the states five largest newspapers. The Texas-specific research has received great coverage and interest due to the highly successful press conference.
In the next two to three weeks Montana Pennsylvania Nebraska Colorado Missouri Louisiana Florida Minnesota and Virginia will have released their state-specific findings all of which (including the Texas and national research papers) can be found at
www.lafferhealthcarereport.org. We are thrilled with the unprecedented impact we are having on the national health care debate.
For many years Texas has stood as a beacon of applied free market principles resulting in prosperity and growth. The policies implemented in our state are being observed and replicated across the nation and this is precisely why the work of the Texas Public Policy Foundation is now more important than ever.
We firmly believe that principled academic researchwhen effectively shared with policymakers and the publicresults in policies that protect individual liberty and personal freedom. This philosophy has helped us lead Texas to prosperity for the past 20 years and now with Texas as an example we are providing the same leadership to our nation. Thank you for standing with us.
