Research Library

In recent years, Indiana hospitals billed millions of low-income patients who should have qualified for discounted or free care, leading to medical debt. A new policy brief examines how Indiana nonprofit hospitals handle & report debt, as well as improvements needed to address these gaps.

While rapid economic and population expansion in Texas cities’ can bring financial prosperity, such growth also can strain local governments’ ability to provide public services and balance budgets. In a new outlook, John W. Diamond and Joyce Beebe detail the financial positions of Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, and Dallas, highlighting each city’s budgetary achievements and gaps.

Vaccines are one of the most successful and significant public health measures in the 20th century. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, they have become more politicized. A new Science and Technology Program report analyzes the vaccine-voting records of state legislators with health backgrounds, finding that party affiliation is a significant predictor of voting behavior.

Houston’s tax increment reinvestment zones (TIRZs) were legislated to help finance the economic and infrastructural development for the city‘s most underfunded areas; however, TIRZs can have had the opposite effect. A new issue brief by experts from the Center for Public Finance examines the regressive impact of TIRZs through geographic and census data, finding that TIRZs primarily benefit wealthier neighborhoods and higher-income Houstonians.

Texas can counter rising health care costs and declining health outcomes by investing more of its annual $46 billion health care budget on non-medical services that address the social, economic, and environmental conditions affecting Texans’ health. Read about it in this new policy brief.

The U.S. health care system is grappling with a severe labor shortage, worsened by the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and an aging population. A new report from the Center for the U.S and Mexico offers recommendations to address the sector’s needs, including expanding visa availability, reforming occupational licensing, specializing recruitment, and streamlining the immigration process.

Raising the purchasing age for semiautomatic rifles to age 21 years in Texas has the potential to save lives while preserving firearm ownership for the majority of the population.

Both presidential candidates have endorsed a policy of no tax on tips. But would this approach really help the low-income workers it’s meant to support? Fellow Joyce Beebe reviews the current tax treatment of tip income, summarizing the main arguments against such a policy, potential impacts, and possible alternatives

Vaccines are a valuable, cost-effective public health tool to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. It is vital that the next U.S. administration fosters innovation and expands vaccination programs to prevent outbreaks, save lives, reduce health care costs, and promote a healthier, more resilient society, write Rekha Lakshmanan and Kirstin R.W. Matthews.

Texas hospitals perform more reduced-cost care charity care than most of in the country, yet many eligible patients miss out on free or discounted care, leading to medical debt. This new brief examines how Texas nonprofit hospitals handle and report debt, as well as the necessary improvements currently manage and report bad debt and outlines how to address these gaps.