Vanessa Calder Journalist Profile

Articles

Time for a Fresh Approach to Childcare

Nov 15, 2024 | cato.org | Vanessa Calder

Generated with ElevenLabs AI technology. President-elect Donald Trump has signaled an appetite for change with his new Department of Government Efficiency and various cabinet picks. While many federal programs and regulations need an overhaul, childcare policy is an overlooked area that is ripe for a new approach. For parents of young children who utilize formal childcare, it is one of the most significant child-rearing costs.
'Free' IVF Could Paradoxically Result in Fewer Births

Oct 14, 2024 | cato.org | Vanessa Calder

The cold reception to Trump’s proposal is certainly due in part to its enormous financial costs. Although the government or insurance companies would pay for IVF under Trump’s proposal, the treatment would be anything but free. It would either be subsidized by taxpayers, or its costs would be passed on to consumers in other ways, such as higher insurance premiums. A back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that subsidizing IVF would cost the government around $7 billion annually.
‘Free’ IVF Could Paradoxically Result in Fewer Births

Oct 11, 2024 | discoursemagazine.com | Vanessa Calder

In an attempt to silence Democratic critics who insist that former President Trump would restrict women’s reproductive freedoms if elected in 2024, the GOP candidate recently promised that under a future Trump administration, “government will pay” or “your insurance company will be mandated to pay” for all in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment costs. Trump has always been in favor of IVF, and with this sweeping new proposal, he is touting himself as a leader on the issue.
Trump's Subsidized IVF Spells Disaster

Oct 8, 2024 | cato.org | Vanessa Calder

This figure, however, assumes that the current number of ART cycles and average IVF cycle costs stay consistent, which is highly unlikely. Currently, most patients self-pay for IVF, which limits IVF use. Furthermore, a subsidized program creates new incentives for would-be parents to delay childbearing or engage in elective fertility preservation, leading to growing use of the program over time.
Economic Freedom

Oct 7, 2024 | aier.org | Vanessa Calder |James W. Hartley |Gary M. Galles |William Luther

A free and prosperous society requires a functioning market economy at its foundation. Using a broad array of tools drawn from price theory, public choice analysis, Austrian theory, and classical empiricism, our study of economics and economic freedom explores the underpinnings of the market system, the roots of economic prosperity, and emerging threats to the same in the public policy sphere.
Trump’s Subsidized IVF Spells Disaster

Oct 7, 2024 | aier.org | Vanessa Calder

During the most recent debate with Vice President Harris, former President Trump declared that he has “been a leader on IVF… everybody else knows it.” Trump, of course, was referring to his recent campaign promise that the government pay for or that insurance be mandated to pay for all IVF treatment costs. Whether Trump’s proposal would make him a leader is a point of debate, given Democrats and introduced a bill mandating insurance coverage of IVF earlier this summer.
Kamala Harris’s Misguided Family Policy

Sep 8, 2024 | catoeconomics.org | Vanessa Calder

Vice President Kamala Harris recently injected some policy ideas into a presidential campaign season that has been light on policy. Unfortunately, her ideas for reform are misguided and counterproductive. They would harm families and could increase the cost of living. One of Harris’s ideas is to bring back the American Rescue Plan’s (ARP) version of the Child Tax Credit (CTC).
IVF Critics' Claims Don't Hold Up under Scrutiny

Jun 13, 2024 | cato.org | Vanessa Calder

In recent months, Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling on in vitro fertilization (IVF), the subsequent passage of a bill protecting fertility treatment in the state, and proposed federal IVF legislation have all generated new interest in a topic area once taken for granted by policymakers and policy analysts. Suddenly, IVF critics feel empowered to voice their skepticism about a popular medical process used to expand US families.
Defending Gestational Surrogacy: Addressing Misconceptions and Criticisms

Dec 5, 2023 | cato.org | Vanessa Calder

This study outlines the case for gestational surrogacy, which is by far the most common form of surrogacy today.1 In this type of surrogacy, the gestational carrier (GC) is not related to the child, and in‐vitro fertilization (IVF) is used to produce embryos using the intended parent’s (IP’s) genetic material or donor material that is subsequently transferred to the GC.
Examining Competition and Consumer Rights in Housing Markets

Oct 24, 2023 | cato.org | Vanessa Calder

Chair Klobuchar, Ranking Member Lee, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Vanessa Brown Calder, and I am the director of opportunity and family policy studies at Cato Institute. The views I express in this testimony are my own and do not represent any official position of my employer. Accessible, low‐cost housing is vital to the health and prosperity of America’s families and communities.