We Wonder Why
What to know: Some hospitals continue to stall and challenge rules that require them to disclose their prices to patients and to the public. It’s so concerning that members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have sent a letter to the new Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The TPPF take: It’s important that HHS enforce the rules on price transparency.
“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.
Not Again
What to know: Even on a relatively mild spring day, ERCOT on Tuesday issued warnings that if Texans didn’t conserve power, it might have to initiate blackouts.
The TPPF take: The problems we saw in February with an unreliable grid are still present in warmer weather.
“The more dependent the entire U.S. grid becomes on unreliable forms of energy like wind and solar, the more it is increasingly at risk of blackouts,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “One way to prevent this is to assign a value to reliability and resiliency, forcing intermittent sources of electricity to pay for the cost of ensuring backup—whether through massive battery farms or via contracting with thermal plants that may remain idle until needed—thus ending the dangerous fiction that unreliables are cheap.”
For more on unreliable energy, click here.
Yes, Done the Right Way
What to know: Six former Secretaries of Education say America needs history and civics education to help promote unity.
The TPPF take: We can help with that! TPPF hosts a Summer Institute for Civics Teachers each year.
“We invite qualified teachers from across our great nation to participate in a week-long classroom session that hopes to enhance understanding of the fundamental political, intellectual, and moral principles that informed the construction of the American founding,” says TPPF’s Thomas Lindsay. “This highly competitive, TEA-approved Summer Civics Institute class will provide 30 hours of professional development during a one-week period this summer. The classes will take place at the Foundation’s headquarters located in Austin Texas.”
For more on civics education, click here.