Health Care

State lawmakers have an opportunity to protect individuals in Virginia against the bait and switch of short-term, limited duration (STLD) health insurance plans.

In September, the state Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) released a proposed 1115 demonstration waiver to implement the Creating Opportunities for Medicaid Participants to Achieve Self-Sufficiency (COMPASS) program.

All evidence suggests that work requirements as written in the proposed waiver will be burdensome for all involved -- individuals and families as well as the state -- and will lead to more than 21,000 people losing health coverage. As policymakers proceed, they should look to available evidence to make informed decisions about how to structure a new program effectively.

This is part of TCI’s report: Work Programs Should Help, Not Harm,...

The Virginia General Assembly passed a budget that directs the state to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in June 2018. Since then, much attention has been given to a provision requiring the state to apply for a waiver from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to impose a work requirement on certain low-income Medicaid enrollees in Virginia.

Virginia’s uninsured rate held basically steady in 2017 at 8.8 percent, according to new data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, maintaining the substantial 3.5 percent reduction in the uninsured rate since 2013. This new data highlights the continued success of the major reforms of the Affordable Care Act, which went into effect in 2014. 

Across the country states are turning to reinsurance pools as a way to decrease health insurance costs and stabilize the individual market.

The rate of female suicide in Virginia has climbed 24 percent since 2010. Nationally, the rate of female suicide has risen 50 percent since 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While males continue to be a large majority of those who die by suicide in Virginia (76 percent in 2016), and the rate has increased for men as well, this trend among women is troubling and requires further examination from Virginia mental health stakeholders. 

Black women in the United States are 3.4 times more likely than White women to die during pregnancy or within one year of pregnancy. These outcomes for pregnancy-related deaths are even worse in Virginia. The passage of Medicaid expansion provides an opportunity to help combat this pressing issue by providing coverage to more mothers and ensuring continued coverage to recent mothers formerly in the coverage gap – if the state makes the health care needs of this population a priority. Simply providing coverage is not enough. Health care providers will need to better address the unique health needs of Black women and the challenges Black women encounter when accessing mental and physical care.