Reports of Hate Crimes Have Grown in New Hampshire

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The number of hate crime complaints being reported New Hampshire has grown in the nearly six years since the state set up a dedicated civil rights unit in the attorney general’s office. The office received 187 hate crime complaints statewide in 2022, up from 40 complaints in 2018, according to Sean Locke, director of the Civil Rights Unit.

Locke told WMUR-TV his office is seeing acts related to race, sexual orientation and other marginalized groups among the complaints.

He said some cases are testing the limits of the First Amendment.

changing — for instance, your Primary Care Physician (PCP) is leaving the network, or your drugs aren’t in the list of covered medications — then you may want to switch to a plan that best suits your current needs. If you need to change policies, the open enrollment period is the best time.

You can also enroll in Medi-Cal. If your income is below 128% of the FPL, you qualify for Medi-Cal, which is Medicaid for Californians.

“The pandemic took a toll on us in so many ways, including our behavioral and mental health, which are critical to our ability to live happy, healthy and productive lives,” said Jessica Altman, executive director of Covered California. “Getting the right behavioral health care starts with making sure people have health insurance with access to quality providers, and that can be done right now through Covered California’s open enrollment.”

Cameron Nelson is an artist and painter living in San Diego who plans to enroll with Covered California.

“As an independent artist I am the one responsible for finding healthcare since I don’t have a traditional job where it’s provided for me. Many of my friends who make a living off their art don’t have plans because they think it is too expensive to cover on their own. I’ve found the options the state provides to be helpful in my situation and I hope that my example can encourage other sole proprietors to do the same.”

The only other way to buy an insurance plan outside of open enrollment is to qualify for special enrollment. This timeframe is called the Special Enrollment Period (SEP). This exception allows you to apply for health insurance if you’ve had certain qualifying life events, such as losing your job, moving to a new state, getting married or divorced, becoming a widow or widower, aging off your parent’s plan or having a new baby.

You won’t be eligible for special enrollment if you lost your previous health plan because you failed to pay your monthly premiums or if you voluntarily cancelled the coverage.

Visit Health for California to get more information on plans that work best for you before the deadline arrives.

“Every time they are successful, it emboldens them, it emboldens others to engage in similar conduct, and I think that’s why we are seeing more,’’ he said.

Earlier this week, the state filed civil rights violations against what the Anti-Defamation League calls a New England-based neo-Nazi group and two members accused of displaying “Keep New England White’’ banners from an overpass in Portsmouth last year.

The group, identified as the Nationalist Social Club, also known as NSC-131, said it was being charged “for hanging a banner bearing a slogan protected by The First Amendment on public property.”