The next meeting of the Virginia Health Reform Initiative will be September 9 in Richmond, from 9 to 5. This will be the final meeting before the report is due to the governor on October 1. Many important issues will be discussed. For more details see http://www.hhr.virginia.gov/In
“Comments on September 9 Memorandum on Preparing for Potential 2012 Health Benefit Exchange legislation” in the subject field.
The Virginia Main Street Alliance asks you to send a comment to the VHRI. We think the more they hear from small business the better the final outcome will be.
One of the major decisions that the VHRI will make on July 15 is whether the exchange will be an “active purchaser” of insurance. An “active purchaser” model means that the exchange will use its size to actively negotiate better rates. In our survey of small businesses the “active purchaser” model is supported by 2/3 of small businesses.
The Commonwealth Institute has a good background piece on the Health Insurance Exchange. http://thecommonwealthinstitu
An interim version of the survey VMSA has been doing was released on July 14. The report is available on the VMSA website at http://www.virginia-organizing
The national Main Street Alliance is offering a six month media training for 5-7 VMSA members. Most of the training will be on line but there will be some opportunity to travel for more training.
While setting up an effective health insurance exchange will help small businesses save money, long term savings will also come thru having a healthier community. The federal health care reform takes two steps on this. First, new insurance plans are required to provide a large list of preventive care with no co-pay or deductible . See http://www.healthcare.gov/law/
