Provided by [Virginia Consumer Voices for Healthcare](http://www.vaconsumervoices.org)
Small businesses with lower and middle-income employees are eligible for tax credits when they provide health insurance to their employees. The credit is up to 35% of the employer’s contribution to the employees’ insurance. Non-profits are eligible for 25%.
The new law represents the most significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
States are able to receive matching funds for covering additional low-income individuals and families under Medicaid.
Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. Bill Hazel announced an initiative to study existing systems and plan for the federal health care law.
Seniors that hit the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole (gap in prescription drug coverage once they spent a certain amount out of their pocket) started to receive a one-time tax-deductible $250 rebate check. The checks continued throughout 2010.
Healthcare.gov launches to provide easy-to-navigate information to Americans about health insurance options. The Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan offers coverage to people who have been uninsured for 6 months because of a pre-existing condition.
Governor Bob McDonnell today announced the members of his Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council. This Council will provide recommendations to the Governor towards a comprehensive strategy for implementing health reform in Virginia.
Children under the age of 19 can no longer be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. Young adults can remain on their parents’ health insurance plan until the turn 26. Insurance companies are prohibited by law from dropping your insurance coverage when you get sick. The cap on the total lifetime benefits you may get from your insurance company are eliminated. Under federal law consumers can now appeal denials or limits on coverage or claims by their insurance companies. Federal grants are available to states to expand programs that help consumers navigate the private insurance system. All new insurance plans must cover certain preventative services including mammograms and colonoscopies without charging a co-pay or deductible.
In a press release the Governor voiced his support for a ruling by a US District Court in Virginia which struck down the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act. He goes on to urge the US DoJ to expedite the case to the Supreme Court.
The Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council issued their first report.
The majority of premium dollars must be spent on health care (At least 85% of all premium dollars collected by insurance companies for large employer plans and 80% for individual and small employer plans). Seniors who reach the coverage gap will receive a 50% discount when buying Medicare Part D covered brand-name prescription drugs.
The Community First Choice Option allows states to offer home and community-based services to disabled individuals through Medicaid.
Virginia Health Reform Initiative (VHRI) Advisory Council recommendations for a Health Benefit Exchange (HBE).
Virginia Consumer Voices for Healthcare (VCV) is Virginia’s new, multi-constituency consumer coalition focused on the expansion of health care in the state. The goal of Virginia Consumer Voices is to build and sustain a broad-based consumer coalition which includes patients, community and religious organizations, small businesses, organized labor, community health centers, and advocacy organizations to support effective implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Virginia. VCV works to impact policy by organizing and coordinating the grassroots, growing a dynamic and effective coalition, and educating key affected communities.
New and ongoing Federal health programs will start collecting and reporting racial, ethnic and language data to help understand and reduce persistent health disparities.
Most Virginians want consumers - not insurance companies - to run the show when a key provision of the new federal health-care law takes effect in 2014, according to a poll released Wednesday.
When it comes to health care, it's something we all need. We don't always like to pay for it. One group is introducing a new coalition to give people an option to offer more affordable health care.
The Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services retained PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to analyze potential benchmark health benefit plans to determine the extent of essential health benefits coverage and Virginia mandated benefits coverage.
Virginia has put the brakes on legislative action to carry out federal health care reform.
This Thursday, March 23, the Affordable Care Act will celebrate its two-year anniversary. To mark the occasion, advocates across the Commonwealth will host events to highlight how the ACA has worked for Virginia. These activities include a tweet chat on Twitter, campus speak-outs, community conversations and others where Virginians will share their personal stories about how the ACA has changed their lives.
As nurses, we are not just confined to emergency rooms and within the walls of a hospital, but we also work in school-based clinics and homeless shelters, among other places. Our roles are just as diverse, ranging from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and nurse researcher. It is no surprise, then, that throughout my time in this profession, I have been exposed to innumerable different situations, both heartbreaking and heartwarming. As I reflect on these experiences, I want to share one thing I've been exposed to again and again: The Affordable Care Act is working for millions of American patients.
Health correspondent Betty Ann Bowser takes a closer look at the arguments over Medicaid expansion and the states that want to opt out rather than take federal money.
Gov. Bob McDonnell sent a letter to legislators Tuesday saying that he is considering whether Virginia should opt out of the federal health law’s Medicaid expansion, but needs more information.
Ken Cuccinelli II, the first state attorney general in the nation to sue over the federal health-care law, has hit upon a new anti-“Obamacare” strategy that is much easier than going to court: Do nothing.
Four years ago, Delmar Bradley fell down, twisting his left knee. He has walked with a limp ever since.
Governor McDonnell issues a press release stating his disappointment in the Supreme Court's ruling that the Affordable Care Act is legal. He goes on to say that his administration has been waiting for the ruling before acting on the Act and that he hopes a new administration will repeal the law.
All new plans must cover certain preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies without charging a deductible, co-pay or coinsurance. Women's Preventive Services – including well-woman visits, support for breastfeeding equipment, contraception and domestic violence screening – will be covered without cost sharing.
Virginia New Majority, a civil rights group, announced a campaign on Monday to expand voting rights and health-care access in the state.
Virginia has made progress in updating its computer system for verifying eligibility for Medicaid and has passed insurance regulations in preparation for implementing federal health care reform, according to a report by a nonprofit organization tracking states' efforts.
Lost in the debate over the cost of extending health insurance to over 400,000 Virginians through Medicaid is the reality that doing so would actually save money in other ways, improve overall public health, and save lives.
Figures released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau show one out of every six people under the age of 65 in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia lacks health care coverage.
Virginia residents and businesses have received about $43 million in rebates from their health insurance companies because they failed to spend at least 80 percent of their premium income on medical care and efforts to improve health care quality during the 2011 plan year.
Under a provision in the federal health care law small businesses received rebates if their insurers spent less than 80 percent of what they collected in premiums on health care claims
Bill Hazel, Virginia secretary of health and human resources, told the state Senate Finance Committee that Virginia faces deadlines this fall on determining which benefits will be required in basic health insurance plans sold to individuals and small businesses in the state.
Michael Cassidy, president and CEO of The Commonwealth Institute, attributed the change to the provision of the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare," which allows young people, up to the age of 26, to remain on their parents' plan.
Billing will be standardized to require health plans to adopt secure, confidential, electronic exchange of health information.
College students should not settle for a surface-level understanding of such significant legislation.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has received essential health benefits (EHB) package notices from 31 states including Virginia.
Today is an opportunity to vote for health care for all Virginians. VCV's partner, Virginia Organizing, has information on how to make sure your vote counts.
Obamacare is here to stay. For the first time, Americans will have guaranteed access to coverage outside the employment setting. This fact got zero discussion in the campaign, but it’s impossible to overstate its significance.
Gov. Bob McDonnell acknowledges that with the re-election of President Barack Obama, federal health care reform no longer can be stopped in Virginia, but he remains unwilling to expand the state's Medicaid program or establish a state-based health insurance exchange...
Medicaid touches the lives of so many American families — a fact which many politicians too often forget. All of us are one curve ball away from needing Medicaid. The thought that Medicaid won’t be there should keep all of us awake at night.
Even though more people were supposed to be covered under the Affordable Care Act, Virginia Governor, Bob McDonnell, did not accept Medicaid expansion; meaning if you make between $10,000 to $30,000 annually, you will not quality for Medicaid in Virginia. Hospitals say they're disappointed.
Virginia Health Information (VHI) released two reports that, when utilized in conjunction with VHI data on quality and satisfaction, are lending greater transparency to purchasers' and patients' health care decision-making process in Virginia.
The problem with health care reform, Virginia Health Secretary William Hazel says, is that he and many other state-level policymakers simply don't believe the law's formal name: The Affordable Care Act.
Governors Nationwide refuse to set up a state Health Benefits Exchange. Governor Bob McDonnell comments on Virginia.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, following the lead of other Republican governors, is threatening to back out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's widespread Medicaid expansion unless reforms are enacted to curb the program's escalating costs.
The expected influx of new participants should Virginia expand Medicaid services under the federal Affordable Care Act is forcing Culpeper Human Services—and other local social services offices—to take a “serve yourself” approach.
Virginia hospitals are getting a taste of what industry officials fear may lie ahead for them if the state doesn't expand its Medicaid program in the face of capped or reduced payments for the care they provided to uninsured patients.
Governor McDonnell's Budget Includes More Than $2 Million to Support Veterans – Budget proposals increase employment opportunities for veterans, provide home modification assistance to disabled veterans; and provide additional funding for the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program –
We'd love to hear from you. Please send questions or feedback to the below email addresses.
Before contacting us, you may wish to visit our FAQs page which has lots of useful info on Tiki-Toki.
We can be contacted by email at: hello@tiki-toki.com.
You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/tiki_toki.
If you are having any problems with Tiki-Toki, please contact us as at: help@tiki-toki.com
Close