Published on April 27, 2013 By Andy Brack | Free Times When South Carolina business owners figure out how they’ll face millions in fines if the state doesn’t take billions in free federal money to provide better health care for hundreds of thousands of low-income workers, they’ll rise up in…
Meet the New Left: Small-Business Owners
Published on March 20, 2013 William Greider | The Nation An employee counts money from a sale at Chagrin Hardware in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta) A promising new force is finding its voice in progressive politics, though it is still widely ignored or misunderstood. These overlooked progressives are…
Proposed bill would help even out competition among health insurers
Published on March 20, 2013 By Lauren Sausser, The Post and Courier South Carolinians covered by companies other than Blue Cross Blue Shield could see lower health insurance premiums if a proposed bill is signed into state law. Senate Bill 145 is attempting to even the playing field among competing…
Medicaid expansion is critical here
Published on March 11, 2013 Greenville News By Frank Knapp Jr. Recently a representative of the Heritage Foundation told a South Carolina Senate subcommittee that expanding the state’s Medicaid program as allowed under the Affordable Care Act would be bad welfare policy. Director Tony Keck of our Department of Health…
Without Medicaid expansion, hefty fines loom for small SC firms
Published on February 23, 2013 By JOEY HOLLEMAN, The State COLUMBIA, SC — A wave of higher health insurance expenses will threaten the bottom lines of many small and medium-sized businesses starting next year under the Affordable Care Act. And if S.C. leaders turn down expanding Medicaid,as expected, the wave…
Knapp: Not expanding Medicaid will cost SC small businesses
Published on February 21, 2013 By FRANK KNAPP JR. — Guest Columnist, The State Columbia, SC — The debate is underway over whether to expand the federal-state health insurance program, Medicaid, to more uninsured low-income South Carolinians. Opponents of expansion, made possible by the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, are…
Lawmakers Grappling with Mental-Mental, Longshore Bills
Published on February 15, 2013 By Michael Whiteley, Eastern Bureau Chief, Workcompcentral The South Carolina Legislature is scheduled to debate bills that would prevent workers covered by the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act or the Jones Act from filing state workers’ compensation claims and would ease the restrictions…
Yes to Medicaid Expansion
Published on February 7, 2013 By Corey Hutchins, Free Times Supporters of expanding Medicaid coverage in South Carolinalargely blame an anti-Obama partisan sentiment for opposition to the federal program. For them, the decision should be a no-brainer: Opting in to expansionwould give hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians health insurancecoverage,…
Background Checks Good for Public, Economy
Published on January 16, 2013 By Warren Koestner, Free Times Preventing gun violence is front and center as a nationalissue as a result of the tragic loss of life last month at an elementary schoolin Newton, Conn. Clearly there is an elevated national concern for improvingthe safety of all citizens,…
Real Senate filibuster reform needed
Published on January 4, 2013 By Frank Knapp, Jr. | The Hill’s Congress Blog Dysfunctional! This is the term that almost everyone has used to describe the 112th Congress even after the New Year’s Day passage of the “fiscal cliff” legislation to responsibly address some pressing taxation issues. However, the…