Is Virginia taking the first steps towards its own health care system?
By JR Hoeft | Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 | PolicyIn the Richmond Times-Dispatch this morning, Michael Martz reports on a very interesting development coming from the Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council, chaired by Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Hazel.
According to RTD, Hazel’s 52-page report when summarized says:
“That Virginia should create its own [health care] exchange, which would be financed initially by the federal government, rather than defaulting to a federally imposed exchange.
“Under the law, a state exchange must be ‘on the way to being operational by January 2013 or the federal government will step in and implement (its own exchange) regardless of Virginia’s policy preferences,’ the report states.”
Given the back-drop of Virginia’s opposition to the ObamaCare both legislatively and through the courts, this recommendation by Hazel will make this year’s already interesting General Assembly session even more compelling.
While it was disappointing to see the governor not unequivocally endorse Hazel’s recommendation, it is clear that the governor is receptive to the General Assembly taking action that will keep the federal government off of Virginia’s health care.
“The decisions ahead are not easy and I will neither compromise the financial integrity of Virginia nor leave us vulnerable to the overreaching federal government,” McDonnell writes to the General Assembly leadership. “Without the necessary guidance and rules that will govern a Virginia exchange and a federal model to review, it is extremely difficult to evaluate whether ceding control of an exchange to the federal government or creating our own is in the commonwealth’s best interest.”
This is an issue to watch…it very well may be McDonnell’s legacy.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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6 Responses to "Is Virginia taking the first steps towards its own health care system?"
Maybe we’ll run that like we run the VRS! Or the VRE! Or VDOT!
I really wish Virginia would meet the responsibilities it currently has, rather than encumber itself with more.
Normally, I’d agree with you Shaun, but with ObamaCare not yet repealed, the only choice we have is to either run something ourselves or to have the Feds do it. It’s a lesser of two evils.
If that really is the case… not sure what the difference is between federally mandated and state mandated health care coverage. Same force, different hand wielding it.
This is where Cuccinelli’s argument against the federal health care mandate makes sense — the feds cannot tell you what to buy. The state government, OTOH, most certainly can… auto insurance, for instance.
Whether that’s right is another item altogether.
My only point is that if the legal challenge fails (and I pray to God that it does not), if Virginia does not have something in place, we’re at the mercy of the feds. While VRS, VDOT, VITA are good examples of how not to run a government agency (although I may quibble on VRS – I’ll send you my paper on it), it is far better to have one that you can hold accountable than something, oh, I don’t know, monitored by IRS agents to ensure compliance?
Can someone please define economies of scale and use this post as an example?
Thanks!
There is always nullification… if Virginia really wanted to refuse tyranny.
http://freedomforvirginiansact.org/
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