by James C. Sherlock
I have been asked many times about how freer markets in healthcare can coexist with our need to treat the poor. I will try to briefly cover some of the complexities of the answer to that question.
And I will show that of all of the government healthcare control systems, COPN is the only one that has proven to disproportionallyย hurtย poor and minority populations by its decisions and their effects. ย
And it does so by design. (more…)
by James A. Bacon
First, we present this news item from the Roanoke Times, headlined, “Democrats push to preserve pandemic voting access measures.”
After the November election, legislators knew changes to Virginiaโs election laws were in order. Democrats and Republicans had differing views of what those changes should be. Encouraged by a presidential election with high voter turnout, Democrats are working to codify many of the changes the state put into place for the pandemic that broadened ballot access. At the same time, they are chastising Republicans who want to roll back those changes on the basis of restoring โelection integrity,โ saying they shouldnโt cast doubt on voting measures that donโt contribute to widespread fraud. (My bold)
See what has happened? Democrats have moved the goalpost. Now election integrity is reason for concern only when there is “widespread” voting fraud. Presumably, the definition of “widespread” is a sufficient level of fraud to disconcert Democrats. The Trumpistas made “election integrity” a running gag line with claims that the presidential election was “stolen,” and Democrats are taking full advantage of insanity on the Right to push their agenda for loosening election rules. But just because election fraud didn’t rise to the level of altering the election in 2020 doesn’t mean that election integrity is a phony issue. Which brings us to this headline… (more…)
by David Cooper
There is an ongoing debate among nonprofits providing homeless shelters on the best way to address homelessness. Should they focus on finding places for people to live, regardless of what mental health or substance abuse problems they might have, or should they stress equipping them with life skills, even if it means a prolonged dependence upon the shelter?
As the staff of the Thurman Brisben Center has learned from serving the homeless of Greater Fredericksburg for 33 years โ more than 7,000 individuals since 2005โ homelessness is complicated. From underemployment and unemployment to physical/mental disabilities, from family breakups to poor credit histories, and from addictions to criminal justice involvement, the breadth of underlying causes is sobering.
The majority of homeless are working households and turn to shelters only as a last resort. A mere 14% — about 34 individuals locally — meet federal criteria for โchronicโ (long-term) homelessness. However, they are targeted to receive the most government funding to permanently house them. (more…)
by James C. Sherlock
More than eleven months ago I wrote an essay titled, โThe Legal Corruption of (Virginiaโs Certificate of Public Need) COPN.” That system needs overhaul, not adjustment, and the people of Hampton Roads need help. ย The Governor needs to lead in both efforts.
Today I offer the third in a series (first two hereย and hereย ) of essays providing background and potential future solutions to the closure of Bon Secours DePaul Hospital in Norfolk.
This is the story of the public, state-sponsored execution of DePaul and a simultaneous attempt to create a bleak future for Bon Secours in Hampton Roads.
COPN mortally wounded that hospital in 2008. It lasted until now as Sentara gnawed away at itย Its death was announced this past week. Pending is how Bon Secours will look at its future in Hampton Roads.
by James A. Bacon
The Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission has updated its scoreboard comparing Virginia on key metrics to other states — a project championed by Sen. Tim Kaine when he was governor. The idea was to allow Virginians to track the progress of the commonwealth in comparison to peer states on the basis of metrics of spending, taxes, and social well being.
There’s a lot to explore in this database, and I’ll highlight other metrics in future posts. But today, let’s focus on state and local taxes per capita — the most important measure of the size and scope of government. (It is an incomplete measure, to be sure; it does not include indirect levies such as high electric rates to advance green energy goals, but it’s what we have.)
Bottom line: Virginia, once considered a low tax state, has moved into the top 50%. As of Fiscal Year 2018, the most recent date for which JLARC collected data, Virginia ranked 24th in the country at $4,994 per capita in state and local tax collections. But there is another way to spin the data… (more…)
by James C. Sherlock
Updated Jan 31 at 8:46 AM
Virginiaโs Attorney General has offered a bill to create a new state bureaucracy to handle the opioid settlement money about to flow into the Commonwealth to support prevention, treatment, and recovery. It is going to be a lot of money. The state opioid settlements will not be the end of it.ย Federal money is coming for the same purpose.ย
The Attorney General wants a new state Opioid Abatement Fund (OAF) for the money and a new state Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA) to spend it. ย The AG admits he has no idea how much money will be available, yet his bill places constraints on how it may be spent and earmarks the distribution of the funds.
I disagree.
The Problem
According to the CDC, opioidsโmainly synthetic opioids (other than methadone)โare currently the main driver of drug overdose deaths.
East of the Mississippi river, the legal product that kills is commercially produced opioids illegally prescribed and filled.ย They include:
Look below at the CDC map showing Opioid prescription dispensing rate ย and see the dark scar through theย Appalachians showing more than 112 prescriptions per 100 persons.
The Northam administration appears to have made a solid recovery from its disappointing performance in giving Virginians the COVID-19 vaccination. After falling to dead last a week ago among the 50 states in the Becker’s Hospital Review ranking of percentage of COVID-19 vaccines administered, the Old Dominion stands today at 21st. Some of this whipsaw change in rankingsย likely is due to data reporting delays and catch-ups, but it seems safe to conclude that the situation in the real world is less dire than appeared to be a week ago.
The Virginia Department of Health has published a new view of the vaccine data that gives some insight into what is going on. Hospitals have been the primary channel for administering the vaccine, and they likely will continue to be so for a while because they also have the largest unused inventory. (more…)
by James A. Bacon
After accusing the Virginia Military Institute of maintaining an environment of “relentless racism” and implying that VMI’s commandant is a racist, The Washington Post nowย is targeting the military academy’s honor code as archaic, excessively harsh, and discriminatory against minorities.
The latest headline: “VMI, under fire for expelling Black cadets, considers changes to prized honor system.”
In an interview this week, interim Superintendent Cedric T. Wins said he doesnโt intend to change the honor code, which forbids lying, cheating and stealing, WaPo staffer Ian Shapira wrote. “Instead, he is evaluating the student-run justice system that enforces that code.” Shapira went on to criticize the “single-sanction” penalty, expulsion, describe how other service academies have abandoned the single sanction, and highlight “startling” racial disparities among the cadets being punished.
The VMI Board of Visitors took the remarkable step yesterday of releasing a full transcript of that interview. (more…)
by Steve Haner
The first major showdown over last-ditch efforts to change the rules on the coming Dominion Energy Virginia rate case occurs Monday in a subcommittee where six delegates received a total of $80,000 from the utility in 2020, and four received $67,500 from its self-appointed watchdog Clean Virginia.
The chair of the subcommittee, Del. Richard โRipโ Sullivan of Arlington, received $15,000 from Clean Virginia, but the chair of the full Labor and Commerce Committee, Del. Jeion Ward of Newport News, might sit in the meeting, as is within her authority. Dominion contributed $50,000 to her campaign in 2020. Both are Democrats. (If Ward is there, the total Dominion donations in the room will reach $130,000.)ย (more…)
by James C. Sherlock
Not too long ago, before the decline of the malls and COVID, the healthcare community coined what they called the Nordstrom Rule.
The meaning was that if you wished to optimize profits in your healthcare business, build it close to a Nordstrom. The theory was that Nordstrom had already done the market research to identify concentrations of wealthy customers.
I wrote yesterday about the Sisters of Charity and Bon Secours, Catholic charities both. The Sisters were not in it to serve wealthy patients. They purposely located their hospitals among the poor. So 19th and 20th century of them.
Sentara, a more sophisticated public charity, avoids locations close to the poor.
In 1991, Sentara purchased the Humana Bayside Hospital in Virginia Beach, renaming it Sentara Bayside Hospital. That cleansed Virginia Beach of a competitor. But Bayside served Virginia Beachโs largest concentration of economically disadvantaged minorities. So Sentara closed it at the first opportunity.
The Virginia Department of Health brokered the closing of Bayside in 2008 under the cover of the Certificate of Public Need (COPN) process that fatally wounded DePaul, allowing Sentara to relocate the Bayside beds to the new Sentara Princess Anne, far from the minority citizens of Bayside.
The closest hospital for many residents served by Bayside was then, you guessed it, DePaul. No longer. (more…)
by James A. Bacon
Two weeks ago Del. Nick Freitas submitted HB 2265 to repeal the Virginia Clean Economy Act on the grounds that it could jack up the electric bill of the average Virginia household by $800. โIt is critical that the Commonwealth not add to the financial burdens of people trying to heat their homes by raising their rates as the VCEA clearly does,โ ย he said in a press release at the time.
I totally agree. The issue seems a bit academic today, as the bill did not make it out of committee. But the Virginia Clean Economy Act will take three decades to unfold, so the issue Freitas raised isn’t going away. I bring it up now because I think that Virginians who have problems with the Act need to get their story straight and work in unison. And there’s one important point where I differ with Freitas.
With the enactment of the VCEA, Freitas wrote in the press release, Virginia is experiencing extensive land leasing and acquisition by solar developers. More than 180 solar projects accounting for 140 million solar panels are in various stages of approval or construction. Full implementation of the ACT would consume 490 square miles of Virginia’s forests and farmland, an area twenty times the size of Manhattan. (more…)
In a column posted earlier today Kerry Dougherty wondered if the GOP can successfully channel COVID frustration into electoral victory later this year. I proffer no predictions on election outcomes, but there are abundant signs that people are fed up. Nationally, that frustration helped boot Donald Trump from the White House. But Democrats are the party in power in Virginia, and public ire at lockdowns, the bungled vaccine rollout, and school closings likely will be directed at them.
Consider the brief rant of Brandon Michon, shown in the YouTube video above, against the Loudoun County School Board. “You’re a bunch of cowards hiding behind our children as an excuse for keeping schools closed. … The garbage workers pick up my freaking trash and risk their lives every day — more than anyone in this school system! Figure it out! … You know what? … There is a line of people out there who will gladly take your seat and figure it out. It’s not a high bar. Raising the freaking bar!” (more…)
by Steve Haner
A week ago, Governor Ralph Northamโs Administration was adamant that it would be unfair, in fact a double tax benefit, to allow Virginia employers with forgiven Paycheck Protection Plan loans to also deduct any expenses used to qualify for forgiveness.
This week, the position changed.ย Maybe it would make sense to allow it for some employers. Perhaps those employers could keep the first $100,000 from the grants free from tax.ย What was a firm assertion of fair tax policy is now a typical legislative horse trade, with smaller businesses considered โdeservingโ and larger businesses not.
Northam and his secretary of finance, Aubrey Layne, built the introduced state budget on a key assumption:ย Any Virginia employer that received some of the $12 billion in PPP money which flowed into Virginia, and had that loan forgiven, would be denied a tax deduction on the expenses which qualified it for forgiveness.ย (Mostly employers qualified by keeping employees on the job, so the deduction would be payroll dollars that supported them and their families.) (more…)
The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….
This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.
Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.
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