Virginia’s Diabetes Problem
Health may be correlated with income and Virginia may have the ninth-highest average household income among the 50 states, but the Old Dominion ranks 23rd in the nation for the incidence of diabetes, according to a Gallup-Sharecare report based on 2017 data. The incidence of diabetes has increased from 10.6% of the population to 11.1% since 2008-09. […]
Health Care Choices Proposal: A New Generation of Health Reform
The plan, called the Health Care Choices Proposal, takes a federalist approach in moving power and control of the health sector away from Washington, through the states, and ultimately to consumers. The recommendations were developed by the Health Policy Consensus Group, including state and national health policy experts and members and leaders of grassroots organizations […]
Medicaid Expansion is Riskier Today than a Month Ago
The massive “Omnibus” spending plan passed by Congress last month did not include a bail out for insurance companies. There has been little mention of this dramatic development and the consequences are significant and should impact the current Medicaid expansion debate in Virginia’s General Assembly.Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, who worked long and hard to get […]
Conservatives – and President Trump – win with Virginia House health-care plan
Virginia conservatives – and the Trump Administration – should embrace the health-care plan rolled out this week by House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) in the House budget. The House budget includes a plan to bring billions in taxpayer dollars back to Virginia to help uninsured Virginians get health-care coverage through Medicaid Expansion. For four years, I sang a different tune. I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with […]
Say No to Medicaid Expansion
The Virginia House of Delegates has unveiled their budget which includes Medicaid Expansion. On behalf of 100,000 activists, we are shocked and dismayed with this proposal. The inclusion of Medicaid Expansion in this budget proposal is both fiscally and morally irresponsible and despite the claims, it is far from conservative. Virginians deserve better. The House’s […]
Virginia’s Hospitals Financial Strength Improves
A new study by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy shows that the overall finances of Virginia hospitals have substantially improved between the numbers published in 2016 (for FY 2015) and those in December 2017 (for FY 2016). The study may be found by clicking here. Using numbers posted on the Virginia Heath Information […]
The Doctor Is In…. And He Wants to Expand Medicaid
With a near 50/50 balance of power between Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly, Governor-elect Ralph Northam will be in a much better position than his predecessor Terry McAuliffe to enact Democratic priorities. And what are those priorities? As he told NBC 4, Medicaid expansion tops the list. Said Northam: “No family in Virginia should […]
Reform Healthcare Here in Virginia
The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy recently released a Handbook on Healthcare Reform, a collection of 17 essays by practitioners and public policy specialists offering reforms for healthcare in Virginia (here). The essays focus on several issues, including three issues likely to come before the General Assembly in January: Medicaid expansion, reform of Certificate […]
Before Expanding Medicaid, Examine the Program’s Outcomes
When Virginia lawmakers start cranking up the old Medicaid-expansion jalopy in January, they would be well advised to pay attention to a new study out of California — not exactly your reddest of red states, so this is not Republican propaganda. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology, used a […]
Is Your “Cadillac” Health Care Plan Really Just A Yugo In Disguise?
As the Affordable Care Act came into effect, many discussions took place as to whether certain health plans would be considered “Cadillac” plans, subjecting their sponsors to an excise tax because of too generous benefits. However, due to “subrogation” provisions, which enable a plan to gobble-up any personal injury award a plan participant obtains from […]