SEIU, Insurance Rates, and Gun Control
President Obama appoints Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern to the deficit commission.
Congressmen grill representatives of Anthem Blue Cross during a congressional hearing
The U.S. Supreme Court prepares to review individuals’ gun rights in McDonald v. Chicago.
1. LABOR
President Obama appoints Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern to the deficit commission.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Editorial Director Ivan Osorio on why the public should be concerned about the appointment.
“Coziness between the administration and a special interest aside, asking the head of a union that organizes public sector workers presents a clear conflict of interest, especially now that union members in the public sector sectors outnumber their private sector counterparts for the first time ever.”
2. HEALTH
Congressmen grill representatives of Anthem Blue Cross during a congressional hearing on Anthem’s rate hikes.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Research Associate Jonathan Moore on anger toward health companies is misdirected.
“The representatives seemed to be incensed that the companies were not providing health care to individuals as a public service. But it’s not their job to provide health care as a public service. It’s their job to make money for their shareholders.”
3. LEGAL
The U.S. Supreme Court prepares to review individuals’ gun rights in McDonald v. Chicago.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Hans Bader on why the Court should vote to overturn Chicago’s handgun ban.
“The idea that the Second Amendment only applies against the federal government, not state and local governments, is a relic of the Cruikshank and Presser cases in the 19th Century, in which the Supreme Court stated that both the Bill of Rights in general, and the First and Second Amendments in particular, only apply against the federal government, not the states. But by the 1930s, the Supreme Court had firmly rejected this rule under what is known as ‘incorporation.’”