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…]

Doing the People’s Business During a Challenging Time

February 5, 2019 by David Toscano

We are now in the busiest week of the legislative year. On Sunday, the House and Senate budgets were unveiled. Today, February 5, is “crossover,” the day on which all bills must be passed in one legislative body to cross over to the other side of the Capitol for consideration. We debate the budget this Thursday. All of this work is, of course, going forward in the shadow of the turmoil surrounding the Governor. I posted my thoughts (you can read it here) about this still-unfolding situation as of Saturday morning on social media, and will probably have more to say later. For now, however, we legislators are focused on doing the job our constituents elected us to do.

STATUS OF MY BILLS

Eight of my bills have passed the House and will now be considered by the Senate. Four initiatives address rising health insurance premiums and health care costs, and are directly related to the spike in insurance premiums that occurred in Charlottesville in late 2017 during the ACA Marketplace open season to purchase 2018 health care insurance. [Read more…]

You Win Some and Lose Some: But You Never Stop Trying

January 25, 2019 by David Toscano

When I first arrived in the House of Delegates in 2006, a friend of mine counseled me not to get too personally attached to any proposed legislation. “Bills are like goldfish,” he said. “You love and care for them when they are alive, but when they die, you go out and get another fish.”

There is some common sense in this attitude, especially when you can bring bills back in the next session to try again, but I have to admit it’s a severe disappointment when very important efforts are defeated, especially when they could make a big difference. In the last week, I have watched this happen to measures like the ERA ratification resolution, which was defeated in the House Privileges & Elections Committee after a herculean lobbying effort. It is not totally dead, and we are working on another strategy to push for a vote on the House floor, but we have some major hurdles to overcome.

There are a few of my bills which have not yet been placed on a subcommittee agenda (as of Friday afternoon, at least), including HB 2377 to grant localities the authority to decide what to do with Confederate statues in public spaces and HB 1959 to allow any voter to vote absentee without having to provide a reason or fit into a special category. For these, the fight to win them is still ahead, and I appreciate all the work being done to help that happen. [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…]

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…]