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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

VA Workers Pay the Highest Rate in the Nation for Health Coverage

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Thursday, October 1, 2009   

RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia is consistently ranked in the top five states to do business, yet by many measures, Virginia workers are being left behind on health care. A new scorecard on health insurance finds they contribute more to their employer-based insurance plans than do employees in any other state in the nation: 24 percent on average in 2008.

The data is part of a scorecard on health care by a new coalition of nearly 60 groups aligned to support Virginians' health care priorities. Healthcare for All Virginians includes hospitals, health care centers, faith-based groups and consumer organizations.

Joy Bechtold Jones with Healthcare for All Virginians says one key area needing improvement is insuring children. Virginia joins 10 states in the nation that have more uninsured children today than 15 years ago. Jones says even in an era of tight budgets, money is available that could help cover kids.

"When it comes to children's health insurance, there's a two-to-one match: For every dollar Virginia spends, we get two dollars from the federal government. We think that Virginia would be wise to invest resources where there's a return."

Getting these dollars will not put pressure on the state budget, Jones points out.

"There are funds that will come from the federal government, and we'd like to see a small portion of those dedicated to health care and increasing coverage for the uninsured."

More information on the health care scorecard can be found at www.HavCare.org.



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