Recent coverage of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II [“Cuccinelli basking in court victory,” Metro, Dec. 15; “Cuccinelli: Virginia should consider opting out of Medicaid,” Virginia politics blog, Dec. 7] reminded me of two rarely discussed aspects of Mr. Cuccinelli’s “strategy”: the disastrous potential consequences and his failure to offer alternative solutions.
Mr. Cuccinelli wants to scrap the entire health-care law immediately — all the consumer protections, including those that recently covered children with preexisting conditions, the seriously ill uninsured, those who’ve reached lifetime benefit limits and young adults. Now he proposes we consider opting out of Medicaid, which covers the most vulnerable Virginians. If he succeeds, consumer protections against insurer abuses will vanish. What does he offer the million-plus uninsured, the seriously underinsured and Medicaid recipients in place of what he seeks to dismantle? Apparently nothing.
The attorney general’s actions draw cheers from partisan political groups but ill serve ordinary Virginians struggling with health care. What will it take to make him realize the magnitude of the insurance crisis in Virginia and to use his office to protect rather than undermine consumers’ interests? How many lives must be lost, how many bankruptcies and foreclosures will occur while we wait for him to get it?
