Research Library

A comparison of the prices at three major Houston hospitals — Houston Methodist, St. Luke’s Health and Memorial Hermann — associated with Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare PPO health plans finds wide-ranging costs for services.

Vaccination policies are a cornerstone of public health, but anti-vaccine activists have been adamantly pushing for legislation that would weaken and dismantle the public health infrastructure, the authors write. In this issue brief, they examine vaccine policy challenges leading up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the future of vaccine legislation in Texas and the United States.

The authors identify key themes that emerged from anti-vaccine testimonies during the 2021 Texas legislative session and consider the implications of these discussions as the next legislative session draws near.

There have been promising developments in recent years in the fight to reduce overdose deaths. But barriers to drug checking and other overdose prevention tools remain throughout the country, writes fellow Katharine Neill Harris.

Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last summer, the world witnessed one of the largest and most rapid humanitarian evacuation missions in U.S. history. Since then, Afghan evacuees have faced numerous challenges in seeking resettlement in the United States.

Although Texans broadly support relaxing cannabis laws and other criminal justice reforms, state leaders continue the war on drugs and other policies that propagate systemic racism, writes fellow Katharine Neill Harris.

Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez, the postdoctoral research fellow in international trade for the Center for the U.S. and Mexico, analyzes the economic impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions on the tourism industry of Texas border counties, many of which depend on Mexicans entering the U.S. and spending billions of dollars each year.

Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe discusses the tax policy considerations of an increasingly mobile workforce, including state tax and regulatory issues, reimbursement for home office expenses and workplace benefits.

Fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen examines where the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council currently stand in their outlook and approaches toward the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Public health and economic measures enacted to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and mitigate the financial impact on families have unintended consequences for low-income women and their children. The authors explain why.