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Credit Unions Help Strapped State Employees
As state employees across the country are being hammered by layoffs, pay cuts and forced unpaid days off, some state employees’ credit unions are stepping in to help workers get through these tough times. Services include a variety of loan programs and even one Web site for recession and job-related tips. The Virginia State Employee […]
States Make Deep Cuts to Health
Although states are facing their worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression, 14 found the dollars this year to increase health coverage for about 250,000 children. That’s one of the few bright spots for health within state budgets in a year in which all but a handful of states faced shortfalls and were forced to […]
States Help More Workers Get Health Care
After Peter Giunta of West Chester, Pa., was laid off in December, the small landscaping company where he worked continued paying for his health insurance while his boss decided whether to bring him back should business pick up again. But in March, Giunta was cut off from the company’s insurance plan. This was after Congress […]
Program Moves Vets From Medicaid
Rolla Riley fought Japanese troops on Iwo Jima during World War II in the same famous battle that saw fellow Marines plant an American flag atop Mount Suribachi. For many years, the 88-year-old veteran’s only income – Social Security and veteran’s disability benefits – went to pay for nursing home care in Yakima, Wash. The […]
Medicaid Programs Feel Weight of Recession
Click here for a printable Medicaid reference sheet (opens PDF) Nevada’s health insurance program for children no longer provides eye check-ups and glasses. Rhode Island raised the premiums for some families receiving Medicaid. South Carolina’s Medicaid program has ended dental X-rays for children under 8 and breast and cervical cancer screenings for women under 40. […]
Economics Sore Subject for Public Schools
Two years ago, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) vowed that 2008 would be the “year of education.” He laid the groundwork by establishing a high-profile commission that urged an overhaul of the state public school system – and $10.5 billion in additional spending. But that was before the nation dove headlong into economic crisis, and […]
Report: States Need to Fix Military Voting
While experts reported that the November elections went off with hardly a hitch, questions are being raised about whether all of the hundreds of thousands of military voters serving abroad were able to cast their ballots with the rest of the country. This issue arose during the 2008 election when the U.S. Department of Justice […]
States Ask Feds for Health Care Help
In Utah, lawmakers have ended some physical therapy, vision and hearing services offered under Medicaid, the national health insurance program that serves 59 million needy. Nevada has capped enrollment in its state children’s health insurance program (SCHIP). California, looking at a potential budget hole of more than $28 billion , is also considering freezing enrollment […]
Election Day Mostly Smooth
Six years after being ordered to overhaul their voting systems, states showed they were largely prepared for 2008’s historic election and near-record voter turnout. “I was pretty proud. The story today around the country – unlike in 2000 or in some cases 2004 and 2006 – was not about the election administration, it was about […]
Report: Voting Glitches Could Disrupt Election
In two weeks, the American voting system will be stressed as never before with record voter registration and expected large turnouts. But the greatest pressure will fall on 11 battleground states whose stars are aligned for an election debacle: tight races coupled with radical changes in their voting systems, according to electionline.org , a nonpartisan […]
States Warned to Prep for Election Glitches
Eight years after voting irregularities marred the 2000 presidential election, most states still are not as prepared as they should be for Election Day glitches, from machine breakdowns to a shortage of emergency ballots, according to a new report by voter advocacy groups. The states least-prepared to handle problems that could crop up at polling […]
Parents’ Income, Education Affect Kids’ Health
It’s no surprise that children born to poor and uneducated parents are more likely to be in bad health and die as infants than children of the wealthy and educated. But a new study released Tuesday (Oct. 7) says parents’ income and education are so linked to their children’s health that there’s even a significant […]