According to the AHIESC, the Alabama Health Insurance Exchange would cost $34-$50 million annually. Setting up a Health Insurance Exchange (HIX) in Alabama does little to protect from federal overreach because even a state exchange must meet federal standards.
35 states—including Alabama—have created high-risk insurance pools to make subsidized insurance available to people who cannot purchase conventional coverage for a reasonable price. As of December 31, 2009, approximately 208,300 individuals—or about 1.8 percent of the individual health insurance market—were enrolled in these programs.
Alabama should adopt a uniform system of limited home rule that improves government efficiency without increasing the state’s exposure for local fiscal decisions or the burden of government that Alabamians already face.
Despite being illegal in the United States, online wagering is likely the fastest growing form of gambling in history. Since 1997, worldwide Internet gambling revenues increased from $445 million to $25.8 billion in 2009.
Alabama’s state and local government workforce is imposing an enormous burden on taxpayers. First, policymakers should be concerned that Alabama’s state and local governments employ 20.86 people for every 100 employed in the private sector—the 1 ...
Section 4 of the proposed constitutional amendment transfers $437 million to the GF from the ATF with the stated intention to provide funding to state prisons and Medicaid. The State Legislature must handle the recurring budgetary problems the State has faced over the past decade, make significant reforms, and avoid temporary fixes.
In 2009, the nation’s federal regulatory agencies issued 3,503 rules and regulations, spanning the oversight of everything from energy-efficiency standards for clothes washers and pool heaters to SUV emissions and escalators.
The total of these off-budget regulatory costs is a whopping $1.75 trillion. Congress must be held accountable for the regulations Americans face.
