Author: Opinion

After 30 years, RiverWoods continues to be a leader in elder care on New Hampshire's Seacoast

Senator Hassan introduced a bipartisan bill to provide more transparency in health care pricing and address a flaw in hospitals’ billing systems

A recent study shows integrated and consolidated health systems have improved care only 'marginally' and have not reduced costs at all

Homelessness is a complex issue exacerbated by the housing affordability crisis, but solutions exist

From my volunteer work over the past 30 years with environmental and health education and advocacy organizations, I’ve learned that there is an inextricable link between a healthy environment and overall human health.

As we mark the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law on July 26, 1990, we recognize and celebrate the disability rights movement.

The Business & Industry Association, along with leading national organizations like the National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber, have long argued for business regulations that are clear, concise and consistent.

The outgoing Sununu administration spent eight years doing cartwheels to preserve the fossil fuel industry’s claims of “nothing to see here.”

One in 10 New Hampshire residents faces food insecurity — when people don’t have consistent access to enough nutritious food to lead a healthy life.

In what is becoming a cashless world, we need to ensure that people are safe from fraud and have access to move their money around without waiting or paying a fee.

Traveling Tooth Fairies Dental Initiative provides free cavity prevention and dental referrals to elementary, middle-school kids in Nashua

We Granite Staters are proud of our first-in-the-nation presidential primary. For more than a century, it served the country well by providing an open testing ground for would-be leaders of the free world. Then came 2024.

For all of its virtues, New Hampshire is no cheap place to live. Time and time again, the state’s residents have been hit by “unexpected inflation.”

New Hampshire’s federally qualified health centers are in significant need of a strategic investment of emergency stabilization funding to preserve access to care for the 1 in 14 Granite Staters we serve.

“I’m waiting for rates to come down.” There are plenty of people sitting on the real estate sidelines right now with that thought repeating in their heads.

Across New Hampshire and the nation, the fact is people with disabilities are experiencing a housing crisis. Without accessible housing in our communities, many are at risk of living in nursing homes or becoming homeless.

Since 1999, the United States has recognized June as Pride Month, when the LGBTQ community and the civil rights of LGBTQ citizens in our country and across the globe are recognized, celebrated and honored.

A bill now on its way to the governor’s desk will force businesses in New Hampshire to allow their employees to keep guns in their cars while at work

Internet access depends on more than wires, poles and other pieces of infrastructure

We are fortunate to have innovative solutions to many of these challenges and for Granite United Way to bring organizations and communities together to help solve these challenges.

Culture of exploration led to development of engineering, physics classes for kindergartners to third-graders

Consider these tips to help support the health of women, especially expectant and new mothers

Apprenticeship programs are a crucial way to meet New Hampshire’s current and future workforce needs

The State House's top priorities are bills that discriminate against the LGBTQ community, particularly LGBTQ youth, and further aim to dismantle the public school system.

A second public health emergency of this decade is beginning to take shape in New Hampshire.

From the outset of the Biden Administration, it’s been clear supporting nursing home care is not a federal priority.

A member of the Choctaw Nation shares her story to argue against a bill that would allow optometrists to perform eye surgery

From our earliest days as owners and operators at Granite Shore Power, we have been crystal clear: We were fully committed to transitioning our facilities away from coal and into a newer, cleaner energy future for the New England region. And that is precisely what we did.

Businesses don’t like to be told what to do. This is what I told the House Executive Departments and Administrative Committee on April 10, my first legislative testimony since I retired last year.

A year ago this month, adult Medicaid recipients became eligible for dental benefits. It took 25 years of advocacy, education and legislative work to pass a comprehensive adult Medicaid oral health benefits bill that is and will continue to have a positive impact on the health and well-being of over 90,000 New Hampshire residents.

In our 21st century modern society, the importance of high-speed internet for every individual and household cannot be understated. Internet access enables people to job search and to engage in remote work.

The NH Community Behavioral Health Association (CBHA), representing the state’s 10 community mental health centers, has very serious concerns about the increased suicide rates and increased reporting of suicidal ideation we have seen in recent years, particularly among LGBTQ+ youth.

Bill passed Senate and makes way to House to help provide savings to patients at the pharmacy

It would be easy to say the New Hampshire Lottery’s 60-year history is all about winning. It would be accurate, of course. After all the New Hampshire Lottery has paid out more than $6.2 billion in prizes since in 1964.

Unlike hospitals and other health care providers, which receive less than 20% of their revenue from Medicaid, NH's nonprofit community mental health centers receive between 80% and 90% of their funding from this source.

If it stands, Superior Court judge David Ruoff’s decision that New Hampshire’s school finance system is unconstitutional threatens to make our housing crisis worse and to undermine the quality of local public schools.

Like many Granite Staters, I grew up playing pond hockey in New Hampshire. On many a winter afternoon, I would grab my hand-me-down skates and stick and tramp through the snow to a nearby pond.

As the commissioner of the New Hampshire Insurance Department (NHID), my regulatory philosophy is that intervention in the free market should only occur when well-defined, solid objectives can be obtained by such intervention, or when inherent monopoly structures prevent a free market competitive system from operating.

It isn’t always easy for service members to cast a ballot. Whether at sea — as I often was over my 13 years in the U.S. Navy — or permanently stationed halfway around the world, military members and their families don’t have the luxury of a quick walk or drive to their nearest polling place.

Back in 2018, a very New Hampshire moment happened: The New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a bill affirming the rights of transgender people in the Granite State to be free from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation. Today, those values are being tested.

New Hampshire’s nursing homes are facing an unprecedented labor crisis that has been further exacerbated by the pandemic, and the supply of skilled workers is not keeping pace with demand.

When economic adversity collides with our business plan, our response to the cost issues must be prompt, and it must be right. We know that there are a multitude of costs related to our people.

U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Mike Braun recently championed a significant stride toward an inclusive and economically empowered future with the introduction of the Supporting Disabled Entrepreneurs Act.

While the discourse around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is facing challenges, the core needs of employees for respect, inclusion and maximization of organizational benefits remain constant.

Years ago, Air Force Lt. Jeffrey Meinholtz, who had been kicked out of the service solely because he was gay, appeared one morning on the “Today” show. Host Katie Couric asked him point blank, “Lieutenant, when did you realize you were gay?” Smiling, he replied, “When did you realize you were heterosexual?” I have never forgotten that moment.

The ongoing health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is well documented, as are its many impacts on the overall system and access to care. It is also emerging as a serious cost driver. These upward pressures on health care costs are seen in several areas, including wage inflation, ability of providers to operate efficiently and costs of delayed care.

With winter upon us, the challenges associated with homelessness become exacerbated and life threatening for many. Cold, wet weather presents a next-level problem for many who have few options for housing, including an increasing number of young people.

How do we effectively and affordably build out the electric grid to handle the impending tidal wave of electrification?

Contoocook Valley School District v. New Hampshire shows need for quality education in NH public schools. -By Bill Ardinger