State Information: Virginia
This state-specific page on Virginia provides new materials published by Families USA, key health contacts, state government links, news and views from the state, and other resources that might be helpful to Virginia advocates. Click on the links below to view the information you are interested in.
Key Health Contacts
Alzheimer's Association
3701 Pender Drive, Suite 400
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-359-4440
Fax: 703-359-4441
Website: Alzheimer's Association
The National Capital Area Northern Virginia Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association provides valuable information on the disease, care of its victims, and state resources for victims and family members.
The Commonwealth Institute
1716 E. Franklin Street
Richmond, VA 23223
Phone: 804-643-2474
Website: http://www.thecommonwealthinstitute.org/
Crater District Area Agency on Aging
23 Seyler Drive
Petersburg, VA 23805
Phone: 804-732-7020
Email: craterdist@aol.com
Craterdist is available to seniors with access to America Online. The site offers information on services for seniors, such as Meals on Wheels, free tax services, and Medicaid transportation. For those without access to AOL, there are instructions on how to download it.
Cross-Over Health Center
108 Cowardin Avenue
Richmond, VA 23224
Phone: 804-233-5016
Fax: 804-231-5723
Northern Virginia Access to Health Care Consortium
3060 Williams Drive, Suite 510
Fairfax, VA 22003
Phone: 703-642-0700
Fax: 703-642-5077
Virginia Health Care Foundation
707 E. Main Street, Suite 1350
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: 804-828-6062
Fax: 804-828-4370
Email: info@signupnowva.org
Website: www.signupnowva.org
SignUpNow is a statewide resource for community-based organizations that help the families of eligible children enroll in and benefit from Virginia's health insurance programs for children, Medicaid, and FAMIS. SignUpNow gives presentations and workshops, disseminates materials to support local enrollment efforts (including a quarterly newsletter, a comprehensive tool kit, and a Web site), provides troubleshooting and technical assistance to local efforts, and collaborates with state and local agencies to help resolve systemic problems and eliminate barriers to enrollment.
Virginia Interfaith Center
1716 E. Franklin St.
Richmond, VA 23223
Virginia Organizing
703 Concord Ave
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Phone: 434-984-4655
Website: http://www.virginia-organizing.org/
Virginia Poverty Law Center
700 East Franklin Street, Suite 14 T1
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: 804-782-9430
Fax: 804-649-0974
Email: danielle@vplc.org
Website: www.vplc.org
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State Government Links
State of Virginia Website
The Family Access to Medical Insurance Security Plan (FAMIS) is the state's CHIP program.
Visit the Medicaid page of the state's website for more information on Medicaid-related issues.
State Bureau of Insurance Website
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Other Resources
Progress in Implementing Selected Medicaid Provisions of the Affordable Care Act: A 10-State Analysisassesses state progress with modernizing eligibility and enrollment systems, integrating payment for dual eligibles, expanding Medicaid early, and implementing the basic health program. It focuses on experiences in 10 states: AL, CO, MD, MI, MN, NM, NY, OR, RI, and VA. (November 2012) [Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute]
Plan Participation in Health Insurance Exchanges: Implications for Competition and Choice considers how competition among insurance plans is likely to play out in 10 states: AL, CO, MD, MI, MN, NM, NY, OR, RI, and VA. It finds that states are more likely to experience effective competition in their exchange if they have multiple insurers with a significant market share and the ability to negotiate with providers. (September 2012) [Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute]
State Progress in Implementing Health Insurance Exchanges: Results from 10 State Analyses describes the status of exchange development in 10 states: AL, CO, MD, MI, MN, NM, NY, OR, RI, and VA. Because the Affordable Care Act allows for a great deal of flexibility in exchange design, states are developing exchanges with a variety of goals and characteristics. The report includes a table that outlines key differences among the 10 featured states. (September 2012) [Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute]
Worry No More: Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Are Protected by the Health Care Law provides estimates of how many people will be protected from discrimination based on their health status thanks to the health care law. For the first time, the state reports include county-level data, and they include state-level data that are broken down by age, income, and racial or ethnic group. (July-August 2012) [Families USA]
Being a Woman Just Got a Little Easier: How the Affordable Care Act Benefits Women outlines what women stand to gain under the Affordable Care Act. (July 2012) [Families USA]
Dying for Coverage: The Deadly Consequences of Being Uninsured estimates the number of Americans who are dying prematurely due to lack of health coverage. It includes state-level data that are broken down by week, month, and year that were generated using the methodology originally developed by the Institute of Medicine. (June 2012) [Families USA]
Decoding Your Health Insurance: The New Summary of Benefits and Coverage provides national and state-level data on the nearly 173.5 million people with private insurance who will be helped by these plain-language summaries that are required by the health care law. (May 2012) [Families USA]
Good Business Sense: The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit in the Affordable Care Act provides national and state-level estimates of the number of small businesses that will be eligible for this tax credit and of how much the credits will be worth. It also includes data on how many workers could benefit as a result, broken down according to racial and ethnic group. (May 2012) [Families USA and Small Business Majority]
Medicaid: Essential to America's Hospitals and Communities provides state-level data highlighting how important hospitals are to state residents at every stage of life, whether or not they are covered by Medicaid. It also explains that hospitals are vital economic engines and that federal Medicaid cuts could harm many communities. (March 2012) [Families USA]
The Bottom Line: How the Affordable Care Act Helps America's Families shows the net financial effects of the Affordable Care Act on family budgets. We found that lower- and middle-income families, both uninsured and insured, will be financial winners. | State Reports (October 2011) [Families USA]
Medicaid's Impact in the States: Helping People with Serious Health Care Needs examines how vital Medicaid is for residents with cancer, diabetes, chronic lung disease, or heart disease or stroke. For these people, Medicaid can be the difference between life and death, and program cuts would put them at risk. Released in partnership with three other groups. (September 2011) [Families USA]
Jobs at Risk: Federal Medicaid Cuts Would Harm State Economies provides state-level data that show the devastating impact the House Republican budget proposal would have. The proposal's substantial Medicaid cuts would harm program enrollees and their families and lead to a loss of business activity and jobs in all states. | Calculator (June 2011) [Families USA]
Cutting Medicaid in the States: Harming Seniors and People with Disabilities Who Need Long-Term Care provides state-specific numbers on how many people would be affected by cuts to Medicaid long-term care spending, as well as how Medicaid helps families, state workers, and businesses. (May 2011) [Families USA]
House Republicans Propose to Slash Funding for Medicaid, Medicare, and Other Health Coverage Programs takes a closer look at how the recent budget proposal would harm seniors, children, and state economies, including state-specific numbers. (April 2011) [Families USA]
States Are Benefitting from Provisions of the Affordable Care Act lists the number of people in each state who are already benefiting from each of five provisions. The provisions include measures that are helping small businesses provide coverage to their workers, helping seniors get free preventive care, and protecting children with pre-existing conditions. | Table (March 2011) [Families USA]
Protecting Seniors and People with Disabilities: Why It Is Important to Preserve the Maintenance of Effort Requirement in the Affordable Care Act discusses how stripping the maintenance of effort requirement from the ACA will have negative consequences for the many people who depend on Medicaid by allowing states to change eligibility requirements. (February 2011) [Families USA]
Worry Less Spend Less: Out-of-Pocket Spending Caps Protect America's Families examines how the Affordable Care Act will protect insured people from high medical costs through new caps on out-of-pocket spending. It provides state-level estimates of how many residents will have spending that exceeds these caps and by how much, and it looks at how many of those residents work for small businesses. (February 2011) [Families USA]
How Health Reform Helps Communities of Color is a series of state-based fact sheets that discuss how provisions in the Affordable Care Act--both those for the general public and those specifically designed to eliminate health disparities--help communities of color in each state. (September-October 2010) [Families USA]
Lower Taxes, Lower Premiums: The New Health Insurance Tax Credit examines how this tax credit will help both insured and uninsured Americans. It provides data on the number of people eligible, the total dollars available, and on how it will help working families in particular. (September 2010) [Families USA]
A Helping Hand for Small Businesses: Health Insurance Tax Credits analyzes the health reform provision that provides tax credits to small employers to help them buy health coverage for their workers. This report, which was commissioned along with Small Business Majority, provides national and state-level data on the number of small businesses eligible for the credit in 2010, as well as the number eligible for the maximum tax credit. (July 2010) [Families USA]
Health Reform: New Opportunities for States to Invest in Home- and Community-Based Services is a series of state-specific fact sheets that explore the new options for states to expand home- and community-based services through the health reform law and the reasons why expanding this type of services is a good idea. (Summer 2010) [Families USA]
Health Reform: Help for Virginians with Pre-Existing Conditions discusses how, under health reform, no one will be denied coverage, charged a higher premium, or sold a policy that excludes coverage of essential benefits because of pre-existing conditions. The report presents the number of state residents with diagnosed pre-existing conditions who, absent reform, would be at risk of being denied coverage in the individual insurance market. It breaks down this number by age, income, and race. | National Report (May 2010) [Families USA]
How Health Reform Helps the People of Virginia looks at the many benefits that health reform will bring to the state, including cracking down on insurance company abuses, ending runaway premiums, and providing financial security. (May 2010) [Families USA]
Health Coverage in Virginia: How Will Health Reform Help? discusses the major gaps in Virginia's health coverage system and how health reform will address these gaps and help Virginians, including the insured, the uninsured, people in Medicare, and small businesses. (March 2010) [Families USA]
Lives on the Line: The Deadly Consequences of Delaying Health Reform examines what would happen if Congress fails to pass health reform. Specifically, it provides national and state-level estimates of the number of deaths that would occur due to lack of health coverage if reform doesn't pass. It also quantifies how many Americans died due to lack of health coverage since the last effort to pass reform in 1994. (March 2010) [Families USA]
Guide to Finding Health Coverage: Virginia Millions of Americans have no health insurance, and finding health insurance can be difficult. If you are looking for coverage, this guide can help point the way. Whether you have recently lost your job, are an early retiree, or have a serious medical condition, this guide includes numerous resources that may help you find the coverage you need. (Updated 2009) [Families USA]
Healthcare Reform Will Help Virginia's Small Businesses examines how the state's small businesses struggle with high health insurance premiums and how health reform will address this problem, making health insurance more affordable for businesses and individuals. (September 2009) [Small Business Majority]
The Uninsured: A Closer Look–Virginians without Health Insurance examines how many state residents were uninsured during 2007-2008. The report also takes a closer look at the number of uninsured, who they are, and how long they were uninsured. It mirrors the data in our national report, Americans at Risk: One in Three Uninsured. (April 2009) [Families USA]
Premiums versus Paychecks: A Growing Burden for Virginia's Workers. The impact of changes in employer-based health insurance premiums and earnings in Virginia. (September 2008) [Families USA]
Bad Medicine: The President's Medicaid Regulations Will Weaken Virginia's Economy States are facing a recession and reduced revenues. In 2007, the Bush Administration issued seven new regulations that together will strip an estimated $50 billion in federal funds from states over the next five years. These state-specific reports quantify the harm that these regulations will cause to state economies in terms of lost federal dollars, business activity, jobs, and wages. (April 2008) [Families USA]
Dying for Coverage in Virginia For the more than 47 million Americans who are uninsured, lack of health insurance can have dire consequences: medical debt, missed care, and even premature death. This first-ever state-specific report examines the number of deaths due to lack of health insurance. (March 2008) [Families USA]
Too Great a Burden: Virginia's Families at Risk finds that more and more Virginia families are spending a substantial share of their incomes on health care costs, and most of these families have insurance. Faced with high health care costs and tight budgets, families are turning to credit cards to finance their care, and many are falling into medical debt. (December 2007) [Families USA]
When an Apple A Day Isn't Enough: Students in Virginia Speak Out about Health Care contains the winning essays from the "When an Apple a Day Isn't Enough" national essay contest as well as basic information about why health insurance matters for children. [Campaign for Children's Health Care]
Guide to Finding Health Insurance Coverage: Millions of Americans have no health insurance, and finding health insurance can be difficult. If you are looking for coverage, this guide can help point the way. Whether you have recently lost your job, are an early retiree, or have a serious medical condition, this guide includes numerous resources that may help you find the coverage you need. (Updated March 2007) [Families USA]
No Shelter from the Storm: Virginia's Uninsured Children. This fact sheet takes a closer look at uninsured children in Virginia—who they are and what kinds of services they miss out on as a result of being uninsured. Written by Families USA for the Campaign for Children's Health Care. (September 2006) [Families USA]
The Enzi Bill: Bad Medicine for Virginia: This fact sheet describes how passage of S. 1955, the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization Act (HIMMA), would affect consumer protections that apply to the health insurance market in Virginia. (March 2006) [Families USA]
NACHRI, in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has released 2005 updates of their state-specific Medicaid fact sheets. These fact sheets detail the importance of the Medicaid program to the health care of children in every state, as well as the critical role children's hospitals and pediatricians play in serving all children. Click here for a map that will take you to information specific to your state. (July 2005) [National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI)]
Paying a Premium: The Added Cost of Care for the Uninsured in Virginia: A fact sheet with state-level data showing the dollar impact on private health insurance premiums of care provided to the uninsured. (June 2005) [Families USA]
Medicaid Cuts Are Bad Medicine: This fact sheet describes how Medicaid helps your state's economy, supports the state's health care infrastructure, provides essential health care to the most vulnerable residents, and reduces the number of uninsured. (January 2005) [Families USA]
The Uninsured: A Closer Look: A fact sheet with state-level data from One in Three: Non-Elderly Americans without Health Insurance, 2002-2003. (June 2004) [Families USA]
Good Medicine for State Economies, 2004 Update: Medicaid provides essential health care services for an estimated 51 million people of all ages and economic classes. Medicaid also plays a unique role in stimulating state economies. This report provides national and state-level data on the effects of Medicaid spending on state business activity, employment, and employee earnings. These updated numbers can be used to predict the economic impact of potential state Medicaid spending increases or cuts in fiscal year 2005.| Medicaid Calculator with updated figures (May 2004) [Families USA]
Who's Uninsured in Virginia and Why? is a four-page fact sheet providing information on the uninsured population in the state -- their numbers and characteristics and some of the reasons they are uninsured. (November 2003) [Families USA]
Families USA has prepared state fact sheets that spell out the different amounts of help the House and Senate Medicare prescription drug bills would provide to low-income beneficiaries. Click here for this state's fact sheet. (July 2003) [Families USA]
Go Directly to Work, Do Not Collect Health Insurance: Virginia is one of the states studied in this report, which provides documentation of the health coverage effects of welfare reform on low-income parents. (June 2000) [Families USA]
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