Connecting today’s news with the research and opinion you need from TPPF experts.
Not rendering correctly? View this email as a web page here.
Connecting today’s news with the research & opinion you need.
Dark Days Ahead?
What to Know: City Journal warns that while New York City’s recent power blackout was caused by mechanical failure, green energy policies could lead to many, many more.
“Blackouts like this are warning signs of underlying rot in our electrical grid,” writes James B. Meigs. “And they may well get worse before they get better. New York governor Andrew Cuomo, stepping in for New York City’s habitually AWOL mayor, Bill de Blasio, called the outage ‘unacceptable.’ Manhattan Institute senior fellow Nicole Gelinas noted that New York wants ‘to be the center of the universe, but we cannot even keep the lights on for a Saturday evening.’ Under the green-energy policies being implemented in New York and elsewhere, such blackouts could become more commonplace in the future.”
The TPPF Take: NYC’s power failure is a sign of things to come—under policies such as the Green New Deal.
“Imagine an America where our businesses, banks, hospitals, schools, and law enforcement can’t depend on electricity when and where they need it,” said TPPF’s Jason Isaac. “The New York City blackout was just a taste of the unreliable electricity that will come with the Green New Deal — and the more than 400 anti-energy plans being developed by mayors around the country, including San Antonio.”
What to Know: Medicare Advantage continues to overbill taxpayers.
“Health insurers that treat millions of seniors have overcharged Medicare by nearly $30 billion the past three years alone, but federal officials say they are moving ahead with long-delayed plans to recoup at least part of the money,” Kaiser Health News reports. “Officials have known for years that some Medicare Advantage plans overbill the government by exaggerating how sick their patients are or by charging Medicare for treating serious medical conditions they cannot prove their patients have. Getting refunds from the health plans has proved daunting, however.”
The TPPF Take: In light of this and other Medicare and Medicaid fraud, how can Democratic presidential candidates claim that Medicare-for-All will “save money”?
“The government can't even demonstrate that it can manage a program effectively today. Have they earned the right to do more?” asks TPPF’s David Balat. “Medicare-for-All would go further than the Affordable Care Act in limiting the ability of patients to choose the health care options that work best for them. Americans need more control over their own health care decisoions, giving them real peace of mind.”
What to Know: The Travis Central Appraisal District just lost a big lawsuit over a landfill.
“What’s the true value of acreage used as a landfill? That was the basis for three lawsuits filed against the Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) by Texas Disposal Systems Landfill Inc.,” the Austin Bulldog reports. “… Local government agencies that derive tax revenue from the landfill include Austin Community College, Central Health, Del Valle Independent School District, Travis County, and Travis County Emergency Services District #11. Those government agencies will end up refunding the taxes they previously collected from the landfill for those four tax years, plus interest.”
The TPPF Take: Texans will receive some hard-won property tax relief, thanks to the Texas Legislature, but the job isn’t finished. The appraisal process itself is a big part of the problem.
"State lawmakers made some big changes to Texas' property tax system this past session, but there's still more work to be done, especially when it comes to appraisals," said TPPF's James Quintero. "Too many taxpayers--like Texas Disposal Systems--are contending with an unfair system that assigns unrealistic values."
.png?width=350&name=Copy%20of%20Untitled%20(1).png "Cannon Logo")
