Virginia Health Insurance News

Politico – Republican heavyweights John Boehner (Ohio) and Eric Cantor (Virginia) plan to announce that they’ll support a House petition to repeal the entire federal health reform law.

The Virginian-Pilot – Federal attorneys have asked a judge to toss out Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s lawsuit challenging the health care overhaul act Congress passed this year, saying the Virginia complaint relies on “arguments that failed in the legislative arena.”

BusinessWeek – President Barack Obama faces a fight over the health-care overhaul from states that say they’ll sue because the legislation’s expansion of Medicaid imposes a fiscal strain their cash-strapped budgets can’t afford.

Boston Globe – Here in the former capital of the Old Confederacy, where resistance to the supremacy of federal law has a long and tortuous history, a new battle is being waged over a question that could undercut a key part of President Obama’s health care proposal: whether Washington can require that most Americans have health insurance.

Think Progress – If Democrats move to pass health care reform after tomorrow’s summit, their newfound momentum can be at least partly attributed to WellPoint’s decision to drastically increase premiums in California’s individual health insurance market. The rate increases highlighted the broken health care system and pressured lawmakers to drastically reform the individual health insurance market. The administration’s strong response also enunciated the differences in lawmakers’ approach to reform and may have pushed the President to add stronger cost control provisions into his health care blue-print.

Blog Briefing Room (The Hill) – Virginia may become one of the first states to shield its residents from a proposed federal requirement that they purchase health insurance.

NBC – At an emotional forum in Virginia, President Obama hugged a cancer patient Wednesday and vowed to bring greater efficiency and accessibility to the nation’s health care system.

Danville Register Bee – Piedmont Access to Health Services (PATHS) is one of 24 health centers in Virginia that will be receiving money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand services for people who are uninsured or underinsured.

MSNBC – Roanoke, Va. – Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) will receive $1 million in funding and support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to increase enrollment and retention of eligible children in Virginia’s health insurance programs, known as FAMIS and FAMIS Plus (Children’s Medicaid).

Click here to see Virginia’s State Health Guide.