Manhattan Institute for Policy Research

Health insurance premiums increase across Illinois

By Bobby Shaw
07/30/2014
If you live in Illinois and have private insurance – either through your employer or purchased on your own – your premiums likely increased this year as a result of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare. Instead of reducing premiums by an average of $2,500 per family as promised, ObamaCare has increased what...

Premiums on the rise for Illinoisans under ObamaCare

By Bobby Shaw
06/27/2014
President Obama came into office promising to reduce health-care costs. Instead of delivering on that promise – to reduce health insurance premiums by $2,500 per year for the average family – premiums have actually increased an average of 30 percent over the last year alone. That’s on top of the broken promises that you could...

Illinois legislators among highest paid in the nation

By Benjamin VanMetre
12/06/2012
The dust has settled from an uneventful veto session. No progress was made. The one attempt at reforming Illinois’ out-of-control pensions that legislators put forward is a step in the right direction, but ultimately would perpetuate the crisis by failing to prescribe the right medicine for the problem at hand. And the efforts to make things...

House Republicans Say No to Federal Pension Bailout for IL

10/17/2011
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson As Illinois state legislators head back to Springfield for the veto session next week, pension reform is the hot topic on everyone’s mind. The time for reform is now, but what solutions are available to legislators? The right way: Taking the difficult, but necessary steps towards real pension reform that ensures there will be money...

Repeal the Tax Hike?

09/27/2011
by Mark Cavers Last week, the Illinois Policy Institute partnered with the Manhattan Institute to release a poll measuring the public’s mood on a wide range of issues including: Pensions, the state’s budget, the economy, taxes, unions, and collective bargaining. According to our poll, 63% of people still oppose the tax hikes that were passed in January. Even more...

National Study: More Costly Health Benefits for Public Workers

08/02/2011
by Kristina Rasmussen Josh Barro of the Manhattan Institute has a new study out examining the high cost of public employee health care benefits, and he finds that “public-employee health benefits are more expensive than those in the private sector.” In the last quarter of 2010, government employees eared $4.66/hour in health benefits, compared to just $2.08/hour in...

Consumer Protection or Consumer Burden?

09/23/2010
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson If you’ve been experiencing changes to the terms of your bank accounts or credit cards, then you can thank (or blame) new financial regulations. While the new regulations have been touted as “consumer protection,” the unintended consequences of the legislation have made some consumers worse off. Theodore Frank of the Manhattan Institute...

A History of Excellence…Wait…That’s Not It.

07/28/2010
by Kristin Nisbet A recent piece in The American Spectator by RiShawn Biddle, chronicles Illinois’ less than perfect past.  Biddle explains that as things have gotten hairy for former Illinois governor Blagojevich, the prospect of what’s to come for either Quinn or Brady does not promise “sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.” But even if he lands in prison,...