POLICOM defines a micropolitan area as a contained economy consisting of a county or counties with a city of between 10,000 and 50,000 people. Washington, D.C. came in first for metropolitan areas — or cities with more than 50,000 people. StateImpact NH is based in Concord, and our first response was “really?!”
The answer POLICOM’s president Bill Fruth gave me was a hesitant “yes.” It turns out Concord and a few other New England counties are anomalous, in that they have very high populations spread out in the micropolitan region, surrounding a smaller city, like Concord. Once you take that into account, Concord may not truly stack up as number one.
How do other New Hampshire towns compare? Take a look at Policom’s report, which was released earlier today. How would you rank your town’s economy? Leave us a comment right here.
Although Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) undergo virtually the same training as medical doctors, their services have not been covered by insurance companies in the state of New Hampshire.
Two and a half years ago, ND Bert Mathieson was frustrated by what struck him as “discrimination flat out.” He got a sponsor for a bill that would change N.H. law. HB351 would require insurers in the state to reimburse naturopathic doctors, who emphasize illness prevention and lifestyle guidance rather than pharmaceutical or surgical procedures in their practice. Mathieson’s initial success — getting a sponsor — came after another ND’s failed attempt to work directly with insurance agencies 12 years ago, and 12 successive years of discontent among New Hampshire’s tight-knit Naturopathic community.
Today, naturopathy looks appealing to politicians for two reasons. First, states like New Hampshire are struggling with a shortage of primary care doctors — a service NDs are certified to perform. Second, about 75% of health care spending nation-wide goes to treating chronic diseases, particularly those caused by diet and stress, such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. According to Laurilee Schoenbeck, an ND who led efforts to pass a similar bill in VT, these are the very diseases naturapaths excel at treating and preventing. Continue Reading →
This week at the State House, Senate and House members agreed on a version of a bill that will require some insurance plans to cover visits to naturopathic doctors. Before we get to the economic impacts of the bill, we wanted to know: what is it exactly that naturopathic Drs. do?
In New Hampshire, naturopathic doctors:
Are educated in 4-year programs which cover the same biomedical and clinical sciences coursework as traditional MD programs.
Conduct standard physical examinations (heart, lung, GI, neurological etc)
Prescribe certain medications including antibiotics, vaccinations and hormones (thyroid, insulin and sex hormones)
Do pap smears, wet preps, breast and prostate exams
Order standard lab tests and diagnostic imaging (routine blood work, x-rays, ultrasounds, mammograms etc)
Administer vaccinations (usually alternative schedules) and basic phlebotomy services
According to NH Association of Naturopathic Physicians,
Naturopathic Medicine is a unique and distinct system of health care that emphasizes the use of prevention and natural therapeutics. The doctors who practice naturopathic medicine, called naturopathic doctors (NDs), are trained to serve as primary care general practitioners who are experts in the prevention, diagnosis, management, and treatment of both acute and chronic health conditions.
That’s all you need to know for now — stay tuned tomorrow for all the details on HB351.
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer — for New Hampshire’s Division of Travel and Tourism Development, at least. The DTTD just launched a television marketing campaign in Boston and New York featuring happy kids running in the woods and playing on the beach. This year, the tourism office predicts that visitors will spend $86 million in New Hampshire this weekend — an increase of five percent from last year.
Of course, the Director of the Institute for New Hampshire Studies at Plymouth state, Mark Okrant, made sure I understood that, really, Memorial Day is a spring holiday. So while the tourism industry’s performance this weekend will be a good indicator of how people are feeling about gas prices and the economy in general, it doesn’t really predict tourists’ behavior in the upcoming months.
Photographer Rick Libbey, who goes by “the moose man,” will be setting up shop in Meredith, NH this weekend at the 21st annual Memorial Day Weekend Craft Festival, where he has spent Memorial Day weekend for the last 5 years. Rick is banking on the same customers that the DTTD is targeting with their television ads in Boston and NYC. “I’m seeing that they’re spending,” Rick told me. After the recession hit, Rick restructured his business to keep prices down. He says that helped his business thrive despite the downturn. “When people see a nice piece of art at an aggressive bargain price, they’re gonna get it.”
His mantra is “think smart, play smart, and by all means have a smile on your face.”
Our weekly roundup of this week's most eye-popping posts
Before you dash away from your desk for Memorial Day weekend, here’s a bit of Friday afternoon refreshment: Your weekly roundup of StateImpact’s Top 5 posts!
Why NH Factories Are Struggling To Fill Jobs: By one estimate, there are 600,000 open factory jobs nationwide for skilled workers–and not enough qualified people to fill them. We look into the “skills gap” situation in New Hampshire, how the Community College System and federal dollars come into play, and why some critics say these kinds of job training programs are a waste of money.
How Much Is N.H. Paying For The Freedom To Take Risks?: The Granite State’s well known for for its laid-back stance on safety legislation. Whether motorists choose to wear seat belts or bikers strap on helmets is their prerogative. But according to a recent report, fatal accidents and injuries carry hidden costs beyond lost lives.
Q&A: Why There’s More To The “Skills Gap” Than A Worker Shortage: The companion piece to “Why NH Factories Are Struggling To Fill Jobs.” We put what’s happening with New Hampshire’s skills gap into national perspective. Using expert voices, we delve into why large manufacturers have rising expectations for workers and why it’s hard to tell if community college-based training programs actually work.
“Wealthy people don’t just have better toys; they have better nutrition and better medical care, more free time and more meaningful labor—more of just about every ingredient in the recipe for a happy life. And yet, they aren’t that much happier than those who have less. If money can buy happiness, then why doesn’t it?” Ask the authors of a 2011 research dialogue in the Journal Of Consumer Psychology.
Their answer? Because we’re spending our money all wrong.
The three authors — leading researchers on money and happiness — put together a list of takeaways from recent studies, condensed below by Rozanne Larsen of Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center.
Eight Ways To Spend Your Money And Get Happy Doing It: Continue Reading →
On Tuesday I described findings in a new report from the Trust For America’s Health, which ranked New Hampshire as having very few injury-prevention laws. You can see on TFAH’s nifty map below that N.H. stands out in red — among its more legislation-heavy neighbors — with only four injury-prevention policies.
As of yesterday, however, that may no longer be the case. Not only did the N.H. Senate approve the prescription drug tracking bill I mentioned at the end of the last post, but the Senate also approved a bill requiring that all school boards develop guidelines for preventing and responding to head injuries among student athletes.
According to the new bill, a student who shows symptoms of a concussion or whom a coach, trainer or other suspects has sustained a concussion must refrain from participating until he or she has permission from a health care provider.
If TFAH’s report had come out today, perhaps N.H. would be shaded brown, along with its neighbors.
This map was reproduced from the Trust For American Health website. View the whole report and interactive map here.
According to a report released today by the Trust for America’s Health, 659 Granite Staters died from injuries between 2007 and 2009 — injuries such as concussions, motor vehicle accidents, and unintentional prescription drug overdoses. These injuries are not only a cause of grief for families and communities; they cost state and federal government, insurers, employers and families a total of $6.1 million in medical care and $625 million in lost productivity each year.
Of all 50 states, only nine had fewer injury-prevention laws than N.H. The last time a seatbelt bill was voted down in New Hampshire, Republic State Sen. Robert E. Clegg Jr told the New York Times: “The citizens of New Hampshire don’t like to be told by anyone else what to do … [rejecting this bill] preserves New Hampshire’s way of not succumbing to the bribes of the federal government and New Hampshire’s belief that every adult can make his or her own choices in life.” Other laws N.H. has not passed include required motorcycle and bicycle helmets; drunk-driving ignition interlocks for convicted drunk drivers; and booster seats that meet AAP standards for children. Continue Reading →
In the past, New Hampshire attracted more new residents, which bolstered the state's economy
The Granite State’s economy depends heavily on well-educated and highly-skilled workers. Historically, a lot of that labor pool has been replenished by out-of-staters. Given recent concerns about the ebbing waves of new Granite Staters, we thought it was time to repost a series of posts we did on the subject of migration, based on IRS data (and a cool interactive map from Forbes).
Your trusty StateImpact team has (temporarily) left the building. So our Latest Links feature is on hiatus until Thursday. But no worries! Our cyber-minions are holding down the fort, and will offer up choice nuggets of New Hampshire economic news until we get back!
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