A new report, Taxing Beyond Borders: Principles for Ohio’s Tax Policy After South Dakota v. Wayfair, released by the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute and the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, looks at the impact the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair has had on tax policy in Ohio and how lawmakers can craft a simple, easy-to-use e-commerce tax policy that doesn’t harm the state’s economy.

The Buckeye Institute released Improving Ohio Health Care with Freedom, which demonstrates the benefits of expanding access to telehealth and lifting unnecessary licensing restrictions on medical professionals. In making these modest reforms, policymakers can make health care more accessible, particularly for elderly Ohioans and those in living in rural areas. 

At The Center Square, Buckeye’s James Woodward demonstrates why it is time for Ohio to permanently expand access to telehealth, which is included in House Bill 679. Woodward writes, “The Ohio House has passed important, needed legislation that will benefit the state’s patients and health care systems. The Senate should do likewise and avoid adding provisions that might hobble telehealth’s value and effectiveness. Ohio is on the verge of taking the national lead in smart telehealth policy and making medical care safer and more convenient for all. Now is the time.”

In The Blade, Buckeye’s James Woodward looks at the need to expand telehealth, writing, “The Blade’s recent editorial on telehealth…gets it right. Telemedicine will be ‘a critical component in the future of health care.’… As we have witnessed throughout the pandemic, there is now widespread agreement among patients, care providers, and lawmakers that telehealth offers patients safe, effective, and efficient options in health care, and the time has come to adjust the rules that govern it.”

The Buckeye Institute released Access to Health Care Made Easier: Promoting Best Practices in Ohio’s Telehealth Policy, which looks at the benefits of telehealth that the increase in demand and use during the pandemic have revealed. With the benefits of telehealth evident, the report outlines why expanded access to telehealth should be made permanent, which lawmakers are considering in House Bill 679. 

The Buckeye Institute released new research by its Economic Research Center that looked at the impact eliminating Ohio’s commercial activities tax (CAT) would have on Ohio’s businesses and its rankings in national economic indexes. In Letting the CAT Out of the Bag: How to Improve Ohio’s Economy and National Rankings, Buckeye researchers found that by repealing the CAT, Ohio would move up 42 spots to first place in the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index—making Ohio more attractive to relocating businesses.

The Buckeye Institute submitted written testimony to the Ohio House Insurance Committee on the policies in House Bill 679, which would improve access to health care and lower costs by permanently expanding telehealth. In the testimony, Buckeye urged policymakers to “expand telehealth access without hobbling its potential to improve outcomes, lower costs, and promote future innovations.”

In Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: Medical License Reciprocity Should be Permanent, The Buckeye Institute calls on Ohio to make permanent policies that recognize out-of-state medical licenses for doctors, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, and other medical professionals. “By making these new rules permanent, Ohio will be able to attract more highly trained care providers, which will benefit patients across the state.”

In The Columbus Dispatch, Buckeye’s James Woodward, Ph.D., outlines how Ohio can expand access to health care—particularly in rural Ohio— by permanently expanding access to telehealth, reducing employment barriers for advanced practice registered nurses, allowing pharmacists to provide the medical care they are trained to provide and recognizing out-of-state licenses for medical professionals.

In Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: Universal Occupational Licensing Reciprocity will Strengthen Ohio’s Health Care System, The Buckeye Institute called on Ohio to join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and then remove additional barriers to medical care by adopting universal occupational license reciprocity.