Virginia General Assembly Process

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 Heaphy Report – What’s Next?

December 13, 2017 by David Toscano

We now have had several weeks to digest the city-initiated 207-page report on the July 8 and August 11-12, 2017, demonstrations in Charlottesville. While there are many nuances in the report of Timothy Heaphy and his team, and various ways by which it may be interpreted, the conclusions are clear — the city and law enforcement failed in two critical areas. First, the city and law enforcement were unable to ensure that citizens’ First Amendment rights of free speech were protected, whether that speech involved the hateful speech of the neo-Nazis and white supremacists, or the speech of counter demonstrators. Second, the city and law enforcement failed to protect citizens from the violent confrontations that occurred on August 11 and 12. Heaphy did a thorough job of reviewing the events, and we need to pay careful attention to it. [Read more…]

The Majority Is Still In Play

November 15, 2017 by David Toscano

The results in Virginia’s elections for our 100 House of Delegates seats last Tuesday were nothing short of a massive tsunami that people will write and talk about for years. (There’s more about that in my post Anatomy of a Wave Election.) Few believed that the Democrats could recruit so many great candidates, spread the field so effectively, and marshal resources necessary to help carry 15 candidates over the finish line. Republicans quickly attempted to portray the election as if nothing had changed, issuing press releases that they still control the majority – not so fast! There are at least two districts where the results are still in doubt, and on these two seats rests the actual majority in the House of Delegates. [Read more…]

ACA Update — Trump Creates Health Insurance “Sticker Shock”

November 1, 2017 by David Toscano

I recently wrote about the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance marketplace. Today, as many citizens begin the Open Enrollment Season to sign up for 2018 health insurance, we are discovering just how drastically Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are hurting Americans by actively trying to destabilize the health insurance market in order to kill the ACA.

Insurance Rates Roller Coaster

Insurance companies have to set their premiums, or “rates,” many months before the Healthcare.gov exchange opens, because state agencies (in Virginia, the Bureau of Insurance, which is a division of the State Corporation Commission) must review insurers’ plans and proposed rates in the summertime to meet federal deadlines. As you probably recall, during the first eight months of 2017 Congress tried several times to repeal the ACA. Trump used his Twitter account to agitate for repeal, even threatening Representatives and Senators who did not fall into line with his desire to get rid of “Obamacare.”

He also actively sabotaged a crucial ACA tool that has kept premiums lower by threatening to eliminate the cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurance companies that helped families afford coverage. Faced with so much uncertainty and increased risk, health insurers began to withdraw their participation in some markets, and requested approval of significantly higher premiums for many of their ACA-compliant policies. [Read more…]

Republicans Are Hurting the ACA, and All of Us

October 16, 2017 by David Toscano

Republicans’ Insidious Undermining of the Affordable Care Act

Newly-elected Donald Trump asserted that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be repealed on day one of his administration. Ten months and numerous close votes later, the ACA remains the law of the land. Nonetheless, the Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress have been relentless in their efforts to destroy the Act from within, and all of us who support health insurance access at reasonable cost cannot let them go unchallenged. Their strategy is sophisticated and multifaceted. And Republicans in Washington and in Virginia have been complicit with this strategy by their deafening silence.

If You Can’t Win The Votes, Sabotage the Market

Trump’s consistent threat to withhold the subsidies (CSRs) which allow insurance companies to keep premium increases to a minimum became reality last week with his Executive Order. The result should surprise no one; faced with unpredictable markets and increasing costs, health insurance companies will either abandon offering coverage or increase premiums to cover their risk. The no-subsidy threat alone has had serious effects. In Virginia, for example, Anthem pulled out of the marketplace in August, leaving more than 60 jurisdictions with no insurer offering coverage. It was only after intense political pressure from Gov. McAuliffe and others that Anthem jumped back in, but premiums are expected to rise. Now that the administration is definitely reneging on federal payments, the reality will be devastating. Some 240,000 Virginians bought health insurance supported by ACA-mandated subsidies; their costs will rise and some will simply not re-enroll, thereby creating a so-called “death spiral” in the markets. [Read more…]