There’s no doubt about it. Virginians want affordable healthcare. Residents of the Commonwealth made their voices heard during the 2017 General Assembly elections by voting for candidates who promised to bring Medicaid expansion to the state. Those candidates delivered on their campaign promise when Governor Northam signed the budget in June, giving access to affordable […]
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Three Reasons Why Brett Kavanaugh Is Wrong for the Supreme Court
In July, Trump announced his nominee for the Supreme Court following Justice Kennedy’s retirement. We all knew the nominee would be bad, but the nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, is worse than we thought. Here are the top three reasons he would take us backwards for the next 40 years and why we can’t let him get […]
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“I want to tell you what it’s like to not be listened to.”
An Immigrant Mother Says “No” to Trump’s Politics of Fear Recently, a woman in Richmond decided to say “no” to the separation of her family. Facing imminent deportation, Abbie Herrera-Arevalo, a mother of two, chose to seek refuge at a local church instead of turning herself over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Last Wednesday, […]
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Trump’s attacking women again, this time with an assault on Title X
Birth Control. STD Testing. Wellness Exams. Cervical Cancer Screenings. That’s what the Trump Administration and some Virginia congressman are attacking this time. Let’s start here. Title X is great. Title X helps provide essential preventative healthcare Title X is the only federal program that provides funding for reproductive healthcare and family planning—services such as birth […]
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Burdened With Student Loan Debt? Virginia Can Now Help.
Help is on the way for Virginians struggling with student loan debt. In June, Governor Northam signed a bill establishing a Student Loan Ombudsman for the Commonwealth, an office that will serve as a one-stop shop for borrowers to go to when they need unbiased advice on how to navigate their student loan repayments. This […]
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Trump’s healthcare sabotage is really bad for Virginia
Good news, Virginia! We finally expanded Medicaid. I’m just gonna let you soak in that glory for a second. Ok. Now, I have some bad news for you. It’s about the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Health insurance premiums are poised to skyrocket next year in Virginia. Why? Because of the Trump administration’s efforts to sabotage […]
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Vickie is Our Hero
Hero or Zero? May 3 Welcome to Progress Virginia’s Hero or Zero, a weekly, unapologetically progressive take on this week’s heroes and zeros in Virginia politics. Check out this space every Friday, and Tweet us or post to our Facebook to nominate your own heroes and zeros. Like this? Please share! HERO: Vickie is our […]
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Eleven People in the Coverage Gap Die Every Week in Virginia
While Republican senators in Virginia’s General Assembly are pulling out all the stops to prevent a clean Medicaid expansion, eleven people are dying every week in the Commonwealth because they don’t have health insurance. Virginians are dying from a whole spectrum of preventable, treatable, and curable illnesses because a group of Republican senators don’t believe […]
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Why Alex Drove 186.5 Miles to Protest Navient
My friend Alex has student loans, like a lot of us. After months of repayment, a new loan mysteriously appeared on her bill and her monthly payments shot up. So she called her student loan servicer, a company called Navient that contracts with the federal government to collect payments on student loans and help borrowers […]
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Hands Off My Birth Control
Thanks to (former) Governor Terry McAuliffe, you can now get 12 months of birth control at once in Virginia. That’s great! It’s cheaper and saves you time. What’s less great? Congressional Republicans are threatening the access and affordability of birth control in the Commonwealth. How? By sabotaging the Affordable Care Act. Women & The ACA: […]