Category: Insurance
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The Lessons of the 2013 General Assembly
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in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Housing, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka If there’s any good news from the 2013 General Assembly session, it is that the hard right’s strange hold on taxation has been broken. Republicans can start acting like responsible adults once again instead of dogmatic shills or spoiled children. Gov. Robert F. Donnell and legislators found a way to raise badly…
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Cuccinelli on Health Care Reform
by James A. Bacon In his book “The Last Line of Defense,” Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli delineates his constitutional views as the state’s top lawyer and he opines on the philosophical principles that undergird his approach to public policy. But he provides few specifics on how he, as the presumed Republican candidate for governor this…
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Is Virginia Uranium Quickly Running Out of Money?
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in Agriculture & forestry, Business and Economy, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Science & TechnologyBy Peter Galuszka Just how financially viable is Virginia Uranium, which appears to be losing its battle to lift a 31-year-old ban on uranium mining in Virginia? Corporate documents filed with Canadian securities regulators state that as of last September, Virginia Energy Resources Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia-based parent of Virginia Uranium that wants to mine…
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Have HSAs Peaked in Virginia?
by James A. Bacon After surging for several years, sales of Health Savings Account policies in Virginia dipped sharply in 2012, according to a new report by the Department of Taxation. However, the number of policies in force eroded only slightly and the number of individuals covered by those policies continued to grow, albeit more…
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Brace Yourself: Health Insurance Shock to Slam Virginia
Hey, does anyone remember President Obama’s promise that health insurance premiums would fall by $2,500 a year for a family if Congress passed Obamacare? Probably not, because that prognostication is going so woefully wrong that the mainstream media has not dropped it into the memory hole. But Virginians will have reason to recall the president’s…
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Here Comes Cooch-ageddon!
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in Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Water-waste waterHard right conservative Kenneth T. Cuccinelli has a very good chance of becoming the next governor. At least that’s my view 11 months out. I disagree with Cuccinelli on almost everything and will spare my readers the list. But I do agree on one thing: he has proved to be a wily politician. He’s turned…
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Has Road Privatization Gone Frankenstein?
By Peter Galuszka Since 1995, Virginia’s politicians have had a ready tool that they love to use as a ruse to build roads without raising taxes: the Public Privatization Transportation Act. Once considered a nation-beater and major step in the craze of putting private management methods and money in pubic transport projects, the PPTA was…
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Liberty U Fights for Our Freedoms, Too
Liberty University has renewed its challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) on the grounds that it violates the school’s religious freedom. Read the details in FoxNews. Personally, I’m a big fan of birth control. I’m all in favor of insurance companies paying for it. Birth control prevents unwanted pregnancies. I wish…
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McDonnell’s Post-Electoral Pouting
By Peter Galuszka It’s only three days after Virginia and the rest of the nation reelected President Barack Obama but already Gov. Robert F. McDonnell is acting like a petulant child. Faced with the certainty of Obamacare, McDonnell appears to be tossing the responsibility of creating exchanges to help self-employed or people denied medical insurance…
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The Scary New World of Uneven Sea Water Levels
By Peter Galuszka Ten days later, New York City and parts of the New Jersey and New York coast are still reeling from Super Storm Sandy as yet another nor’easter packing 50 mile per hour winds approaches. Scientific evidence points out that sea level rises caused by melting polar icecaps caused, in turn, by climate…
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President Barack Obama!
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in Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Uncategorized, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka President Barack Obama’s re-election and success with Virginia in Tuesday’s contest could provide a fresh opportunity to solidify more economic recovery than what have otherwise may have happened. It could be a real chance for bipartisan progress. Here’s my takeaway at 2:30 a.m.: Virginia has again shown that it is morphing into…
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“The Bay,” The Chesapeake As Horror Movie
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in Agriculture & forestry, Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Environment, Government Finance, Health Care, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Property rights, Science & Technology, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka Imagine you are enjoying a refreshing summertime swim in the Chesapeake Bay or one of the Rivahs. You feel great, but shortly afterwards, you become very ill. Before you know it, new forms of parasitic isopods are eating up your heart, lungs and kidneys. You are terrified, in great pain and you…
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Sandy’s Subliminal Messages
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in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Infrastructure, Insurance, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Science & Technology, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka You have to love the Richmond Times-Dispatch. They never miss an opportunity to showcase their beloved Republican Gov. Robert F. McDonnell. As Hurricane Sandy approached, our intrepid governor was pictured everywhere: giving a statement about a state of emergency; looking very leader-like in a command center; appearing concerned as in this TD…
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A Rising Tide Raises… Questions. Lots of Questions.
A new William & Mary Law School clinic will address prickly legal and policy questions arising from endemic flooding in Virginia’s vulnerable Tidewater lowlands. by James A. Bacon No one knows how fast the sea level off Virginia’s coast will rise by the end of the century. It could be more than a foot, if…
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More On Coal and Utility Money Ties to Va. Politicians
By Peter Galuszka This isn’t exactly breaking news, but coal companies and utilities pay to be a dominant force in Virginia politics, a trio of environmental groups charges as The Governor’s Conference on Energy opens in Richmond today. The three groups – Appalachian Voices, Sierra Club Virginia and Chesapeake Climate Action Network – note that…