Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a research-based, public policy “think tank.” He is a health policy expert and opinion contributor at The Hill. He also serves on the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Dr. Matthews is a past president of the Health Economics Roundtable for the National Association for Business Economics, the largest trade association of business economists. Dr. Matthews also served for 10 years as the medical ethicist for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board for Human Experimentation, co-author of On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff, and has contributed chapters to several books, including Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate and The 21st Century Health Care Leader and Stop Paying the Crooks (on Medicare fraud).
He has been published in numerous journals and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Barron’s, USA Today, Forbes magazine and the Washington Times. He was an award-winning political analyst for the USA Radio Network.
Dr. Matthews received his Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Can Republicans Win in '24? (Audio: Interview)
Merrill Matthews joins WAVA's Don Kroah to discuss actions Republicans can take to win the 2024 election including the acceptance of early voting and mail in voting.
Republicans Should Be Willing to Vote by Any Means Necessary (Audio: Podcast)
IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews discusses his recent (6/21/23) piece in The Hill about how Republicans need to stop rejecting early voting, mail-in voting and other means of voting. Let’s make sure they are secure and aren’t open to fraud, but it’s counterproductive and self-defeating to boycott voting methods that are used by your opponents. Parties and candidates need every vote possible in order to win elections. With IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
The Perpetual-Emergency President (Audio: Interview)
On the The Rod Arquette Show, Merrill Matthes explains how President Biden, under the pressure of progressives, has become the perpetual-emergency president to circumvent Congress.
What's Going On with the Supreme Court? (Audio: Podcast)
Not a review of this term’s cases, but rather using today’s surprising Supreme Court decision on the Alabama districting case, IPI President Tom Giovanetti explains that it is oversimplistic to see the current court as a “6-3 conservative court.” Rather, there are several different judicial approaches and philosophies in the mix, which suggests something more like a 2-4-3 court. And IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews reminds us that it’s the progressive justices, not the conservatives, who almost always vote as a predictable bloc. And maybe those who so vilified Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh should think again, since Kavanaugh seems to be less willing than most to be at the vanguard of a conservative agenda. And Tom reminds us of one of his favorite points, namely that the Supreme Court is NOT engaged in a “power grab,” but rather is actually refusing the temptation to make policy from bench and is insisting the Congress actually do its job.
The Feds Make Drug Companies an Offer they Can't Refuse (Audio: Podcast)
The dishonestly named “Inflation Reduction Act” creates an explicit price controls mechanism for prescription drugs under Medicare. This unravels the market protection mechanism in the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit known as the nonintervention clause. IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews explains how these price controls will be harmful to prescription drug innovation, and the constitutional grounds on which a legal challenge by Merck might be successful. With IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
How Government Is Wasting Your Green Dollars (Audio: Podcast)
IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews explains how taxpayer dollars pledged to help vulnerable and developing countries cope with climate change are instead being used as a slush fund for project with little or no connection to climate change, and for projects that should be able to find adequate financing from the usual financial markets. Seems to IPI President Tom Giovanetti that this is yet another example of how the concern about climate change seems to be little more than an excuse for spending money on pet projects.
Should the IRS Calculate Your Taxes? (Audio: Podcast)
In a pursuit to close the “tax gap”—the alleged tax revenue the federal government thinks it’s missing out on – the IRS has several times floated the idea that the IRS would calculate your taxes and then send you a tax form with the fields and amounts already filled out. This is a terrible idea because the IRS could be relied upon to calculate your tax liability in the way most favorable to them, not to you. IPI President Tom Giovanetti explains that our system of voluntary tax compliance, where the burden of proof lies with the IRS to challenge your tax calculations, is worth preserving. So when the IRS says it wants to make tax compliance easier, the solution is a simpler tax code, not IRS intimidation. With IPI Resident Schlar Dr. Merrill Matthews.
Reconsidering Drug Pricing (Audio: Podcast)
Prescription drug issues are back on the Washington's front-burner. IPI Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews talks with Dr. Robert Popovian about his new paper, which highlights how recent developments—including insulin pricing, PBMs, the Inflation Reduction Act and Medicaid—are moving the drug companies to reconsider how they price their products.
Debt Limit and the Durham Report Fallout (Audio: Interview)
IPI Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews joins WAVA’s Don Kroah Show to discuss the progressives attempt to use the 14th Amendment to address the debt limit. Also discussed is the fallout from the Durham report and its impact on the future of the FBI.
Two Great Supreme Court Decisions on Section 230 (Audio: Podcast)
Two of the major tech cases before the Supreme Court were handed down Thursday, and thankfully both of them preserved the critical Section 230 protection against intermediary liability for social media platforms. IPI President Tom Giovanetti explains the issues and discusses the cases with IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews.
The Durham Report: It Was as Bad as You Thought It Was (Audio: Podcast)
While the Mueller investigation found that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, the Durham investigation went into the sources of the allegation, the source of the “Steele Dossier,” and the prejudicial behavior of FBI officials. And yes, it’s every bit as bad as you were afraid it was. IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews reads excerpts from the report and explains their significance, with IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
The EPA Once Again Overreaches Its Authority (Audio: Podcast)
Today, the EPA announced a slate of new rules and regulations for coal and natural gas fired electrical generation plants, including mandating carbon capture technologies. IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews suggests that such an act might not stand up to Supreme Court scrutiny under the major questions doctrine, and IPI President Tom Giovanetti is amused that the EPA claims it can impose such sweeping, ambitious regulations without raising the cost of electricity to consumers.
Does the 14th Amendment Give the President Authority Over the Debt Ceiling? (Audio:Podcast)
As the debt ceiling drama intensifies, might President Biden assert the right to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling based on the 14th Amendment? Such a stunt is almost certainly unconstitutional, according to IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews. The plain reading of Section 4 of the 14th Amendment refers to existing debt, not issuing new debt. But IPI President Tom Giovanetti wouldn’t put such a stunt beyond Biden, who has already tried to institute policies from the Executive Branch that are clearly outside the Constitution.
Why Democrats Should Support a Work Requirement for Welfare (Audio: Podcast)
House Republicans included a work requirement for welfare benefits (“workfare”) in their legislation agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews discusses the history of workfare, and discusses with IPI President Tom Giovanetti why workfare contributes not only to fiscal prudence but also to human flourishing.
IPI Policy Basics: What Is Intellectual Property, Why Is it Important, and Why Is it Controversial? (Audio: Podcast)
In recognition of World IP Day, the Institute for Policy Innovation, an accredited Non-Governmental Organization affiliated with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), discusses the importance of intellectual property protection. With IPI Senior Research Fellow Bartlett Cleland and IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews.
Total Records: 704
