General Assembly Update: Optima Health and Tax Rebates

October 2, 2019 by David Toscano

WATCH YOUR MAILBOX!

Local residents should watch their mailboxes carefully in the next several weeks because about 2.7 million eligible taxpayers will receive a one-time refund from the Commonwealth as the result of action the General Assembly took last spring.

STATE TAX REBATES

Those eligible should receive $110 if they filed state taxes individually, or $220 if they filed jointly. The check should arrive by October 15. So, if you see a letter from the Department of Taxation – OPEN IT! If you have questions, visit the Virginia Department of Taxation’s website at https://www.tax.virginia.gov/news/2019-virginia-tax-relief-refund or call 804.367.8031.

PREMIUM REBATES FROM OPTIMA

Another rebate for residents in our area may soon be coming from Optima Health as the result of actions by a local advocacy group, Charlottesville for Reasonable Health Insurance (CRHI) (https://www.facebook.com/groups/142730106368938/) and the state Bureau of Insurance (BOI), with a little nudge from yours truly. Under requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurance providers are required to spend 80¢ out of every dollar in premiums collected on healthcare claims and quality improvements (in policy parlance, this is called Medical Loss Ratio – MLR). [Read more…]

House and Senate Pass Historic Budget with Medicaid Expansion

May 30, 2018 by David Toscano

After almost two months of waiting, the General Assembly has passed a historic budget that expands access to Medicaid for more than 300,000 Virginians. It took a five-year fight in Richmond to get this done, and the battle could not have been won without the efforts of so many Virginians who pushed, especially at the ballot box, for this initiative.

This budget is probably the best I have seen in my twelve years in the General Assembly.

Republican leadership in the Virginia Senate attempted to hold the budget hostage over this issue. Ultimately, they were foiled by members of their own caucus like Emmett Hanger and Frank Wagner, who were willing to expand Medicaid not simply because of human benefits, but because of how the additional federal dollars would help with our state budget. In fact, Virginia’s Medicaid has been expanding for years, but in the most fiscally irresponsible manner. Under the present program, the federal government matches our spending on a one-to-one basis. For every dollar we spend, they match it with a dollar. Under Medicaid Expansion, the federal government will pay over ninety percent of the costs of the new enrollees. This is a much better financial deal for the Commonwealth. Republicans also recognize that the Affordable Care Act is not likely to be repealed, so they concluded it would be better for us to bring billions of tax dollars that Virginians pay to Washington back to the Commonwealth to help Virginians with health insurance and to shore up our budget. [Read more…]

GA Update: Crossover, Utility Rates, and Medicaid

February 14, 2018 by David Toscano

“Crossover” is the term used to describe the date that bills in the House need to be passed and moved to the Senate for consideration, and vice versa. Any bills that were not sent to the other body by yesterday (February 13) are dead for this Session. On Monday and Tuesday, we considered a number of controversial bills, not the least of which were measures involving possible re-regulation of utility rates and new requirements for Medicaid recipients.

UTILITY RATES – Defeating The Double Dip

Citizens have been reading for months about problems with the so-called “rate freeze” bill that was passed in 2015, and the General Assembly is now trying to fix it. A straight repeal of the 2015 measure failed in both houses, leaving only HB 1558 as a possible alternative. But that bill was fundamentally flawed when first introduced; it permitted utilities to keep much of their “overearnings” and left them largely free of State Corporation Commission (SCC) oversight. While the efforts of environmental and consumer groups made the bill that was considered on the House floor on Mondayand Tuesday noticeably better, it remained seriously deficient in several categories, including provisions that would have allowed the utility companies to enhance their profits with the so-called “double count” or “double dip.” [Read more…]

The Pace Quickens As Bills Move

January 29, 2018 by David Toscano

We are now more than two weeks into the 2018 General Assembly session, and the pace has increased dramatically. Committees begin meeting at 7 a.m. and continue after session each day, often into the early evening. Most of my bills have not yet been reported to the House floor, although I have had success on several measures at the committee level.

Preservation, Medical Marijuana, And Parental Leave

My bill to assist the Preservers of the Daughters of Zion Cemetery with funding for their ongoing and important restoration efforts here in Charlottesville sailed through a subcommittee hearing, and is likely to be passed by the House next week.

I have supported various efforts to use cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil, derived from marijuana, to treat pain associated with a number of serious illnesses, and to broaden physicians’ ability to prescribe them for this purpose. At present, these oils can only be prescribed for intractable epilepsy. A measure I introduced to expand their availability to other illnesses has been heard in subcommittee and will move to the full Courts of Justice Committee soon. And Democratic bills (including mine) to mandate 12 weeks of parental leave for state employees when they add a child to their family, by birth or adoption, are awaiting action in an Appropriations subcommittee; I hope to be able to report progress on this soon. [Read more…]

The Fight of Our Lives—Time to Bend the Arc

November 6, 2017 by David Toscano

We are, simply put, in the fight of our lives. The values that we consider important— social equality and economic justice, diversity and inclusion, tolerance and civility— and the opportunities that everyone should have— the chance for our family members, children, and grandchildren to secure a decent education, obtain a good job that pays a living wage, have access to reasonably priced health care and insurance, ensure the protection of reproductive health, and gain fair access to the ballot box— are all under siege. They are being assaulted, not only by an insensitive and thoughtless President, but by politicians across the country who either mimic his message or, in their silence, have become complicit in his efforts to destroy the great American dream for all but the wealthiest among us.

All Eyes on Virginia

On Tuesday, Virginia will go to the polls in the first major election since the Trump upset. We have heard much about various state house special elections, and even the June Congressional race in Georgia, being tests of the Democratic Party’s “post-Trump” viability. But Virginia is the real deal. Our Governor’s race matches a veteran/doctor/former State Senator/Lieutenant Governor against a Republican who masterminded the GOP’s nationwide gerrymandering strategy, which has brought one-party rule to many states and Tea Party control of the U.S. House of Representatives while encouraging the further polarization of the electorate. Since Republicans control the Virginia House and Senate, putting a Republican in the governor’s seat could make Virginia look like North Carolina in just one legislative session. Take a look at the 120 bills Governor McAuliffe vetoed in his four years, because a Republican victory will mean that many of them will become law very quickly. No one can afford to “sit this one out.” Every vote is crucial.

Mark Herring, Attorney General • Dr. Ralph Northam, Governor • Justin Fairfax, Lieutenant Governor
Democratic Candidates, Virginia Statewide Offices [Read more…]