Virginia health insurance

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status report:
Virginia state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Virginia state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Virginia officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (8)

• Eric Cantor
• J. Forbes
• Robert Goodlatte

• H. Griffith
• Robert Hurt
• E. Rigell

• Rob Wittman
• Frank Wolf

Our
Pick

No (3)

• Gerald Connolly
• James Moran
• Robert Scott

how healthy is living in Virginia?

Virginia has stayed consistent from last year's rankings as the 22nd healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Virginia's strengths include its high availability of early prenatal care (with 83.9 percent of pregnant women receiving care in the first trimester), low percentage of children in poverty (14.8 percent of individuals under the age of 18), and few poor physical health days per month.
• The violent crime rate showed a decrease this year from 256 to 227 offenses per 100,000 individuals in the population.
• The number of preventable hospitalizations also decreased in the past five years.

The bad news:

• Virginia's air pollution levels and high prevalence of smoking are presenting challenges for its ranking, as well as its low immunization coverage (86.7 percent of children between the ages of 19 and 35 months).
• Virginia's geographic disparity is listed at 14.9 percent.
• Obesity increased from 19.3 to 25.5 percent in the past year.
• Public health funding decreased since last year from $81 to $68 per person.

Virginia's best and worst category rankings:

• Violent crime rate – 7th
• Poor physical health days – 8th
• Geographic disparity – 39th
• Immunization coverage – 42nd

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Virginia.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Virginia health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Virginia here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Virginia, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does Virginia have a health insurance high risk pool?

No, Virginia does not offer its own risk pool for its citizens who are medically uninsurable.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Virginia started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Virginia's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in Virginia

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Virginia and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Virginia.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Virginia health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Virginia.

Health insurance plan report cards for Virginia

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Virginia health insurance plan report cards.

Virginia government health insurance resources

Virginia's Bureau of Insurance – consumer information for state citizens dealing with agents or companies.

Virginia Department of Health – a site rich in information for Virginia citizens concerned about their health.

Virginia Health Insurance Guide for Consumers State of Virgina's PDF document with information about traditional health insurance and managed care health insurance plans.

FAMIS (Family Access to Medical Insuracne Security) – is Virginia's low-cost health insurance for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but do not have private health insurance.
Bienvenida al sitio Web de FAMIS – is Virginia's low-cost health insurance for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but do not have private health insurance.

health care advocacy groups in Virginia

Virginia Organizing Project – a statewide grassroots social justice group working to mobilize citizens to lobby for more affordable health care.