Over the Target
What to know: The Biden administration is proposing tougher penalties for hospitals that don’t publish their prices in an easily readable format.
The TPPF take: Price transparency—telling consumers up from what a procedure will cost—is a fundamental start to lowering health care costs.
“The American Hospital Association claims that ‘disclosure of privately negotiated rates does nothing to help patients understand what they will actually pay for treatment and will create widespread confusion for them,’” says TPPF’s David Balat. “But what causes confusion is price discrepancies like $11 versus $1,000 for the same blood test. Texans support hospital price transparency—strongly.”
For more on price transparency, click here.
Woke Math Gets Subtracted
What to know: California’s Board of Education is pushing back against “woke” math, an approach to teaching math that politicizes it and ties it to critical race theory.
The TPPF take: Surprised that critical race theory would attempt to invade math textbooks? Don’t be.
“At the heart of critical race theory is the idea of systemic racism—that racism is the original sin of America, and it persists everywhere to this day,” explains TPPF’s Kevin Roberts. “Every institution is designed, they say, ‘to maintain the dominance of white people in society.’ That includes schools—which, according to the aim of ‘social justice,’ must be torn down and remade in order to fully root out racism.”
For more on critical race theory, click here.
Telling the Truth About Election Protection
What to know: TPPF’s Chad Ennis was on CBS 19 in Tyler this week to discuss election reform bills.
The TPPF take: Senate Bill 1, the stalled election protection bill, contains common-sense provisions to ensure that every legitimate vote counts.
“These provisions are wildly supported by the public,” says TPPF’s Chad Ennis. “Nearly 90% of Texans say voters should have to show identification to vote. More than 80% believe in-person and mail-in ballots should have the same protections. Roughly the same number say mail-in ballots should include the voter’s driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number. And 89% of Texans say we should audit our voter lists regularly to ensure they only include eligible voters.”
For more on election protection, click here.