Emily Makings

New Brief: House- and Senate-Passed 2014 Supplementals are Mostly Similar, but Present Distinct Options

The House and Senate have both passed versions of a 2014 supplemental operating budget. We look at what the budgets include and how they differ in a new policy brief.

Newly eligible Medicaid enrollees continue to outpace private plan enrollees on exchange

According to this week’s enrollment report from the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, 106,281 have signed up for a qualified (private) health plan (QHP) since Oct. 1. Enrollees in Medicaid who are newly eligible under the expansion of the program total 212,633 (they are funded under the enhanced federal match). Medicaid enrollees who were previously eligible […]

The political risk of defined benefit pensions

The Economist writes about the “plan of adjustment” filed by Detroit as part of its bankruptcy proceedings: In order to shed much of its $18 billion debt, Detroit proposes giving unsecured bondholders, including holders of general-obligation debt, 20 cents on each dollar. Pensions will be cut, too. General pensioners will receive only 66% of their […]

New Brief: House Appropriations Chair's Proposed 2014 Supplemental Largely Tracks Senate Proposal

As Dick noted earlier, yesterday the House released a 2014 supplemental operating budget. We describe the proposal in a new policy brief. (Our brief on the Senate proposal is here.)

Private plan enrollment in Washington exchange passes 100,000, but still short of goal

Yesterday the Washington Health Benefit Exchange released enrollment numbers through Feb. 20. Qualified (private) health plan (QHP) enrollments now total 101,857 since Oct. 1. Enrollees who are newly eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act expansion now total 202,168 and those who were previously eligible for Medicaid under the old rules but had not […]

New Brief: Senate Ways and Means Chair's Proposed 2014 Supplemental Increases Education Spending, Reduces Taxes

Yesterday the Senate Ways and Means Chair proposed a 2014 supplemental operating budget. We take a look at the proposal in a new policy brief.

January detailed enrollment report from Washington exchange not very newsy

The Washington Health Benefit Exchange has released its January enrollment report (covering Oct. 1, 2013 through January 31, 2014). Like previous monthly reports, it breaks out the enrollment data by age, plan type, county, sex, income, etc. Aside from the higher levels of enrollments, the break outs are not markedly different from the December report. […]

Labor costs and fruit packing technology

The Yakima Herald-Republic has a story today about the technologies being used by fruit packers. It illustrates how industries faced with increasingly high labor costs adopt technologies that automate the work to some extent, reducing demand for low-skill workers. Some excerpts: The job used to be done only by people with knives. But these days […]

More on public pension legal issues

Richard Epstein’s column this week asks, How can the government best roll back pensions in ways that satisfy key economic requirements without running afoul of serious constitutional concerns? The legal questions have arisen in several places (including Washington) and remain unsettled. Epstein: California pension law cases, without careful analysis, have evolved to freeze minimum pension […]

Wages and benefits should be considered as parts of total compensation

Last week I wrote about a series of posts from Sasha Volokh on the California rule for public pensions. Since then, he has added a post asking “Are public-sector employees ‘overpaid’?” This is a perennial question. Volokh mentions several studies on the issue and concludes, “I’m inclined to think that public-sector workers tend to be […]