Health care law encompasses the laws and regulations governing hospital and health care administration, and an understanding of health care insurance is integral to it. There are significant differences in the types and amount of coverage provided by various private insurance policies, such as HMOs, PPOs, disability insurance, and hospital indemnity insurance, just as there are important differences in the cost to the purchasers of health insurance. There are also public health care insurance programs. Elderly and disabled persons may be eligible for coverage through the federal Medicare program. The joint state-federal Medicaid program helps certain individuals, including disabled persons and low-income elderly persons, pay for long-term care and in-home health care.
Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 39,284 at the 2000 census, with an estimated increase to 41,796 in 2008. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses those jurisdictions and all of Montgomery, Pulaski, and Giles counties for statistical purposes. The MSA has an estimated population of 158,328 and is currently one of the faster growing MSAs in Virginia. Blacksburg is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (better known as Virginia Tech), a Virginia land-grant university. Blacksburg is the largest town in Virginia by population. There are many larger municipalities, but they are incorporated as cities.