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 weekly contributor at Forbes.com. He also serves as Vice Chairman of 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, and has contributed chapters to several books, including Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate and The 21st Century Health Care Leader and, in 2009, 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.

Hiram Sasser, Esq., is Deputy Chief Counsel for First Liberty Institute, where he oversees Liberty Institute’s litigation efforts. Sasser’s practice focuses on First Amendment and other constitutional and civil rights issues.

Sasser successfully argued before federal and state appellate courts, federal and state district courts, and the Texas Supreme Court. His past and present clients include The American Legion, VFW, Association of Christian Schools International, Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Falun Gong, a Native American sweat lodge, Jewish Educational Center, Southern Baptist Convention, National Association of Evangelicals, synagogues, and various state and local government entities and officials.

In addition to his legal duties, he develops, coordinates, and implements successful media strategies on behalf of his clients. This includes numerous appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN, and the BBC as well as being heard on various radio stations throughout the United States, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Prior to joining Liberty, Sasser graduated summa cum laude from Oklahoma City University School of Law, where he received recognition as the “Outstanding Graduate.” He earned his bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University. His military service includes serving as Headquarters Commander, a Company Executive Officer, and Training Officer in the United States Army Reserve.

Marnie Freeman is an award-winning artist and graphic designer. Her art has been viewed by more than a quarter million church, political, and business leaders since 1995. She has also designed various logos, graphics, and materials for successful political campaigns across the nation, numerous ministries, and major corporations. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Oklahoma State University and is a member of Gateway Church in Southlake. She resides in Texas with husband Kevin and two daughters. Marnie views her art as ministry.

Her prayer is that her art will share Biblical truths and a Judeo-Christian heritage, inspiring leadership, and demonstrating God's beauty, love, faithfulness and forgiveness. She had not picked up a paintbrush for over eight years prior to the Lord's 2005 calling!

Legal leftists who attack Neil Gorsuch hold an odd view. Thus far there are two unfolding lines of attack on Judge Neil Gorsuch. The first is so intellectually absurd as to be frivolous — that he rules for the wrong people. In other words, the critic ignores the legal reasoning and focuses only on the legal outcome. If a poor person or a person of color loses, the judge is wrong. If a corporation wins, the judge is wrong. Judges are not legislators, however, and critiques that barely even mention (or ignore entirely) applicable legal standards when evaluating case outcomes may sometimes play well on television but prove difficult to sustain in practice. Unless a judge utterly lacks integrity, he or she finds himself ruling against his ideological friends all the time. (Witness the Obama administration’s remarkable number of 9–0 defeats before an ideologically divided Supreme Court.)

Affordable Care Act reforms proposed by congressional Republicans represent a mix of measures that may stabilize the health care market for the near term while replicating the ACA's actuarial problems that created significant financial headwinds for carriers, observers said.

"It's premature, but the initial indications appear to be a mixed bag," Ceci Connolly president and chief executive officer of the Alliance of Community Health Plans said.

"The situation is moving in the right direction for 2018-19," Connolly said, "but we would need to see legislation enacted that keeps the subsidies and a little more clarity on reinsurance and risk adjustment."

Observers agreed it was difficult to predict the overarching impact of the reforms. The short-term prognosis was upbeat, but the legislation includes elements that could pose substantial hurdles for long-term market stabilization.

Two U.S. House committees last week passed legislation to repeal the ACA and replace it with a Republican version that would keep some of the most popular elements (Best's News Service, March 9, 2017).

The bills would extend the consumer subsidy programs, the advance tax credits and the cost-sharing reductions, until the end of 2019. That helps to stabilize the market in the near-term, Connolly, told Best's News Service. However, the bills are silent on how to pay for those provisions.

"They deserve credit for hearing our message around stabilizing the market and not creating chaos for millions of Americans that are getting coverage and care," Connolly said.