WHAT’S NEXT FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM: Many people are waiting for the Supreme Court ruling on health care reform, which is expected in late June. It is good to see that Virginia is moving forward. The administration of Governor Bob McDonnell continues to talk internally about how best to implement health care reform in Virginia. After the Supreme Court ruling, there may be a special session of the Virginia General Assembly to make the major decisions about health care reform. The more small businesses communicate their concerns with the General Assembly, the better Virginia’s final outcome will be.
For information about the General Assembly, or to find out who your legislators are go to http://legis.virginia.gov/
The Virginia Health Reform Initiative is the task force appointed by the Governor to oversee how Virginia will implement health care reform. It met at least three times in 2010 and three in 2011. Currently it has three meetings set for 2012. The meetings are: Thursday, May 3, at the Coliseum in Richmond; Thursday, May 24 at the Virginia Department of Health Professions off Gaskins Road in Western Henrico County; and Wednesday, June 13 at the Virginia Department of Health Professions. All the meetings are set to run from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. See http://www.hhr.virginia.gov/Initiatives/HealthReform/ for details.
The Virginia Main Street Alliance has a 15-30 minute presentation on small businesses and health care reform. If you know of a group that is interested in this presentation, email Bob Becker at bob@bobbecker.org or call 804-937-0752.
On Tuesday, May 15, Virginia Organizing and the Virginia Main Street Alliance will hold a health care reform seminar for small businesses at the Church of the Holy Apostles, 1593 Lynnhaven Parkway in Virginia Beach from 3:00-4:00 p.m. Contact Bob Becker at bob@bobbecker.org to register.
Virginia Organizing is circulating a petition calling on Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Cuccinelli to enforce the Affordable Care Act. The petition is available at http://signon.org/sign/tell-cuccinelli-and-mcdonnel
As part of the transition to covering people with pre-existing conditions, the federal government has set up a Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan in Virginia. Anyone who has been uninsured for at least six months and has a pre-existing condition may be eligible. Monthly premiums run from $93 – $401.
Go to http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/preexisting/index.html for more information.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has determined that Americans will get $1.3 billion in rebates from insurance companies later this year. Under the new health care law insurance companies are required to spend at least 80% of the money they receive in premiums on health care or health care quality improvements. The foundation looked at reports to state insurance commissioners. You can see a summary of the report at http://www.kff.org/healthreform/8305.cfm
A Small Business Majority study found that the cost of no health care reform on small business would be huge. The study, available at http://www.smallbusinessmajority.org/small-business-research/economic-research.php found that no health care reform would cost 178,000 jobs in small businesses nationwide. The study also found that small businesses would spend $2.4 trillion on health care in the next ten years if there is no change in the system.
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These updates are a service of the Virginia Main Street Alliance, a project of Virginia Organizing. Contact State Coordinator Bob Becker at bob@bobbecker.org or 804-937-0752 if you have questions or comments.
