These programs reduce the costs associated with building homes and businesses in high-risk areas such as along the coast and in flood plains. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials say the problem has become so costly that they have urged Congress to eliminate beach reconstruction and insurance programs that encourage development in coastal areas and flood plains. But Congress has refused to kill the programs. Drivers using cell phones pose a far smaller risk to themselves and other drivers than do truck drivers or drunk drivers, according to research from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. The reason that drivers using cell phones pose such a small risk, the researchers said, was because most calls those drivers make are during rush hour, when traffic is moving at slow or moderate speeds.
Most accidents involving alcohol take place at night and at high speeds.
Of states that took action on health care this year, the most common action taken involved attempts to expand access to health insurance, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association reported this month. Eleven states, including South Carolina and Virginia, took action aimed at reducing the ranks of the uninsured. Virginia did so by expanding its Children's Health Insurance Program. Other states, such as Colorado and Idaho, created new tax credits for individuals and a tax deduction for the self-employed. Seven states, including South Carolina, created or expanded programs to subsidize the cost of prescription drugs.