By Dan Heyman, Public News Service- VA By choosing not to expand Medicaid, health policy and budget analysts say the General Assembly has put the state in the position of paying more to get less. Virginia lawmakers are expected to fund more than $120 million to provide health coverage for about 50,000 additional state residents. […]

By Prue Salasky, Daily Press The government released the first state-by-state numbers for health-insurance enrollment through the federally run state marketplace Tuesday. In the first month, by Dec. 15, the deadline for Jan. 1 coverage through Affordable Care Act plans, Virginia had 164,884 enrollees, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, CMS. Of those, […]

By Andrew Cain, Richmond Times-Dispatch If Medicaid expansion began in Virginia on July 1, Virginia would take in more than $230 million in federal offsets that would alleviate 71 percent of the state’s $322 million budget gap, according to Bill Hazel, the state secretary of Health and Human Resources. “The governor is fairly committed to […]

By Michael Paul Williams, Richmond Times-Dispatch Here is yet another where-to-build-it debate that will speak to our region’s values. And this time, the sticking point is more about our future than our past. As a freestanding children’s hospital enters the planning stage, its location remains up in the air as our region’s localities revert to […]

By Laurence Hammack, The Roanoke Times Federal officials announced new funding Monday for a program that helps Virginians sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, including at offices in Roanoke and Christiansburg. A grant of nearly $1.3 million to the Virginia Poverty Law Center will allow it to continue with its enrollment […]

By Prue Salasky, Daily Press Virginia is fourth behind Florida, Texas and Georgia in the number of enrollees who have not supplied required documentation regarding their citizenship or immigration status to support their application for insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s health marketplace exchange. The Department of Health and Human Services has set Sept. 5 […]

By Prue Salasky, Daily Press Enrollment in health insurance through Virginia’s federally facilitated state marketplace, established by the Affordable Care Act, is continuing. While open enrollment for 2014 ended on March 31, there are changes in status and other situations that allow people to enroll, according to Jill Hanken, director of Enroll Virginia!, an arm […]

By Laurence Hammack, The Roanoke Times A final, six-week surge in enrollment has more than doubled the number of Virginians who obtained health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. A total of 216,356 people in the state purchased coverage through Healthcare.gov, an online marketplace that is a key part of the new federal health care law. […]

By Prue Salasky, Daily Press At midnight Tuesday, the clock officially ran out on 2014 enrollment in the state health insurance marketplaces established by theAffordable Care Act, but that doesn’t mean the work of the navigators and certified application counselors, funded by the government to promote enrollment, will come to an end. “There continues to […]

By Michael Martz, Richmond Times-Dispatch Virginians account for slightly less than 1 percent of the 106,185 Americans who enrolled in health plans through the federal and state insurance marketplace in the first, rocky month of operation. Just more than 1,000 Virginians had enrolled in health plans in the marketplace from Oct. 1 through Nov. 2, […]

By Tina Eshleman, Richmond Magazine The health-insurance marketplaces established by the federal Affordable Care Act are intended to make insurance accessible to those who don’t have it. But when enrollment opens Oct. 1, thousands of uninsured Virginians won’t be able to sign up. That’s because the state has not yet expanded its Medicaid program to […]

By Tammie Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch Virginians who want help signing up for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces will be able to get in-person and telephone assistance from a statewide network of navigators working for a newly developed program called Enroll Virginia! The Enroll Virginia! website, www.enroll-virginia.com, and telephone help line are scheduled to […]

Virginia Lawyers Media, the publisher of Virginia Lawyers Weekly, has announced the 2013 class of “Leaders in the Law.” Now in its eighth year, this awards program recognizes the lawyers across the commonwealth who are setting the standard for other lawyers in Virginia. “Leaders” are recognized for changing the law, serving the community, changing practice or […]

McClatchy Newspapers After several months of delays, the Obama administration awarded $67 million on Thursday to fund an army of outreach and enrollment workers known as “navigators,” who will help people sign up for coverage on the new state health insurance marketplaces beginning Oct. 1. With less than seven weeks to go before the marketplaces […]

Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) held a town hall information session with constituents on the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. He was joined in the Imani Center in Richmond by state and federal officials, some of whom used slides in their presentations. Topics included how people would be able to get insurance through the new […]

By Jill Hanken, Richmond Times-Dispatch Letter to the Editor Editor, Times-Dispatch: You recently urged state legislators to support the Virginia Retirement System with $320 million over the next two years (i.e., $160 million per year) before paying for the Medicaid expansion, which you correctly stated would cost Virginia $137 million over nine years (i.e., $15.2 […]

By The Associated Press Only one state will spend less per capita than Virginia to promote public awareness of the new health care reform law. According to data compiled by The Associated Press from federal and state sources, the $3.9 million in outreach spending in Virginia amounts to 49 cents per resident. Only Wisconsin, at […]

By Michael Martz, Richmond Times-Dispatch The administration of Gov. Bob McDonnell estimates that expanding Virginia’s Medicaid program would cost the state $137.5 million over nine years, far lower than previous estimates that have ranged as high as $2.2 billion. The estimate reflects $584.3 million in expected savings in the first five years of the expansion, […]

By Ashley Monfort, NBC12 A hot button issue brought hundreds of demonstrators to the State Capitol on Monday. More than 200 showed up as the Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission met for the first time to review changes to the Medicaid program. Both sides are giving their reasons for and against Medicaid expansion, but the commission […]

The State Corporation Commission will assume a new role on July 1 to manage insurance plans that will be sold on a health benefits exchange the federal government will begin operating in Virginia in 2014. But the commission and its Bureau of Insurance already have taken big steps to get ready for a major shift […]

By Monique Coppola, Public News Service- VA Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said in his State of the Commonwealth Address this week that he will not support the Medicaid expansion in Virginia, which is part of the federal health care reform law. The governor’s new budget reflects this decision. Jill Hanken, an attorney with the Virginia […]