A news story notes that legislation to establish a single-payer health care plan is under consideration in Ohio and the financial underpinning of the bill is a report done by Gerald C. Friedman, economics. Friedman recently provided testimony to Ohio lawmakers when he appeared before the House Insurance Committee. (The Press, 12/10/18)
Month: December 2018
Employees who file sexual harassment complaints often face harsh outcomes, with 65 percent losing their jobs within a year, and 68 percent reporting some form of retaliation by their employer, according to new research from the UMass Amherst Center for Employment Equity. In their report, “Employer’s Responses to Sexual Harassment,” co-authors Carly McCann, Donald Tomaskovic-Devey and M.V. Lee Badgett analyzed over 46,000 harassment claims sent to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state Fair Employment Practices Agencies from 2012-16. These cases represent only a small amount (0.2 percent) of the estimated 25.6 million experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace that occurred over this same five-year window. (Wall Street Journal, Business West, 12/13/18; News Office release)
A news story on recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria includes comments from Robert N. Pollin, Distinguished Professor in economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute. Pollin says rebuilding the island’s energy infrastructure using a green growth strategy will lower energy costs and modernize the system at the same time. It will also produce jobs and help reduce Puerto Rico’s dependency on the federal government. (Cleantechnica.com, 12/12/18)
There is continued national news coverage about a team of economists from the UMass Amherst Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) that has found that the Medicare for All Act of 2017, introduced in the United States Senate by Senator Bernie Sanders, is not only economically viable, but could actually reduce health consumption expenditures by about 9.6 percent while also providing decent health care coverage for all Americans. Robert N. Pollin, Distinguished Professor in economics and lead author of the report, says, “The most fundamental goals of Medicare for All are to significantly improve health care outcomes for everyone living in the United States while also establishing effective cost controls throughout the health care system. These two purposes are both achievable.” (Financial Advisor, 12/6/18; News Office release)
There is national news coverage about a team of economists from the UMass Amherst Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) that has found that the Medicare for All Act of 2017, introduced to the United States Senate by Senator Bernie Sanders, is not only economically viable, but could actually reduce health consumption expenditures by about 9.6 percent while also providing decent health care coverage for all Americans. In a nearly 200-page report released at the Sanders Institute Gathering, the first major event hosted by the think tank founded by Jane O’Meara Sanders and David Driscoll, the senator’s wife and son, the economists outline seven major aspects of transforming the U.S. health care system, detailing step-by-step the actions needed to be taken to achieve truly universal health care and its potential impacts on individuals, families, businesses and government. The analysis, which was in development for 18 months, has received praise from 11 distinguished experts in the fields of economics and health care studies who have rigorously reviewed the researchers’ findings. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer [from AP], Commondreams.org, WCAX-TV 3 [Vt.], Republican, 11/30/18; News Office release)