Free Republic

As Washington prepares to revisit the subject of health-care reform, perhaps some fresh experience from Middle America would be of value. When I was elected governor of Indiana five years ago, I asked that a consumer-directed health insurance option, or Health Savings Account (HSA), be added to the conventional plans then available to state employees. I thought this additional choice might work well for at least a few of my co-workers, and in the first year some 4% of us signed up for it. In Indiana's HSA, the state deposits $2,750 per year into an account controlled by the employee,...

Indiana Is Open for Business Mitch “the Blade” Daniels is putting the state on the free-market cutting edge. By Bret Swanson There’s about to be a building boom in Indiana, which is desperate good news for a state that has been severely challenged by the global manufacturing shift and years of ambivalent leadership. The chief architect of the boom is the state’s decisive Governor Mitch Daniels, President Bush’s former budget director. In Washington, Daniels drew scorn from congressional big spenders, acquiring the nickname “the blade” for his cost-cutting and privatizing ways. (The moniker could just as easily apply to his...

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Gov. Mitch Daniels visited Vigo County, where the production of methamphetamine has been prolific, to sign legislation Tuesday that will restrict the sale of cold medicines containing ingredients used to make the drug. The law is similar to a Vigo County ordinance that has been in effect since January. State police reported that authorities found 166 meth labs in the county last year, the most among Indiana's 92 counties. The county also topped the state list in 2002 and 2003. The new law, enacted unanimously by the General Assembly last month, places restrictions on the sale...