Ten Policy Points You Need to Know About

Often times when debating or discussing politics and policy, facts are tossed aside in favor of more emotional arguments. Even worse, when one side of a legitimate but spirited debate falters, it has somehow become acceptable to either refuse to accept the facts as accurate. Others strive to find flaws in an effort to have two wrongs make a right. By way of experimentation, here are ten totally unrelated facts about issues we deal with in Pennsylvania government. Let’s see what happens…

1. Mental Health First Aid USA estimates that approximately 7 percent of police contact involves a mentally ill person and 10 percent to 15 percent of incarcerated individuals are mentally ill.

2. A 90-minute incident on a typical interstate results in $120,000 in lost productivity and fuel. The state Department of Transportation's incident management procedures have lowered road closure times greater than 90 minutes by 13 percent from 2009-2011.

3. More than 2 million poisonings are reported each year to the 57 poison control centers across the country, including three in the state: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Hershey. More than 90 percent of these poisonings occur in the home with the majority of non-fatal poisonings occur in children younger than 6 years old.

4. In 2013, an estimated 79,560 people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in Pennsylvania. Daffodil Days is one of the American Cancer Society’s longest-running and most successful fundraisers. This year’s campaign is expected to raise more than $4 million to support research and other efforts to eliminate cancer as a life-threatening disease.

5. The New York Federal Reserve has reported that total student debt in the U.S. has almost tripled between 2004 and 2012 to $966 billion. There has been a 70 percent increase in the number of borrowers and a 70% increase on the average balance per person. About 17 percent of borrowers are past due on their student debt more than 90 days in 2012. 

6. A new Southern Poverty Law Center study found that the number of anti-government “Patriot” groups in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 1,360 in 2012 (an 818 percent increase since 2008) with Pennsylvania having 35. The number of hate groups also rose from 602 in 2000 to 1,007 and militias increased from 42 in 2008 to 321.

7. The Urban Institute has reported that if all states adopted the Medicaid expansion, total uncompensated care would decline by approximately $183 billion from 2013-2022 compared to the Affordable Care Act if no states expanded Medicaid. PA would have an $876 million decline under this scenario.

8. A new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that working families in PA pay a higher share of their income in state and local taxes than the state’s wealthiest families. Specifically, the poorest fifth of taxpayers pay 12 percent of their income while the wealthiest 1 percent pays around 4.4 percent. 

9. A 2012 Duke University report found that nine out of every 10 U.S. jobs lost during the recession were mid-level, mid-paying and often eliminated due to technology. Of the 3.5 million jobs that have been added since June 2009 (the recession’s official end), 2 percent were middle-class, 28 percent were in high-level, and 70 percent were in low-paying sectors.

10. Since January 2013, 10 states have increased the minimum wage by 10 to 35 cents per hour and another 13 states have weighed minimum wage increases, including Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. The last federal minimum wage increase was in 2009 from $5.15 to $7.25. The average hourly wage in December 2012 for all privately employed workers was $23.73, up 6 percent from 2009.