Va. group: Widen health insurance access

Virginia doesn’t need to wait for comprehensive health-care reforms to expand care for children and working parents.

That was the message yesterday from a broad coalition of almost 60 health-care organizations — from physicians, hospitals and nursing homes to free clinics and advocates for the poor.

The coalition, called Healthcare for All Virginians, decried the state’s low ranking in providing health-care insurance for children and working families. Virginia currently ranks 48th in the country in spending on the Medicaid program for the poor.

“We’re not Louisiana, but we’re knocking on the door when it comes to supporting safety-net programs,“ said Christopher S. Bailey, senior vice president at the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

Virginians pay a higher share of work-based health insurance premiums, at 24 percent, than residents of any state in the country, according to statistics released by the coalition at a news conference yesterday at the state Capitol.

More than 1 million Virginians are uninsured, even though 600,000 of them have full-time jobs. Virginia ranks 44th in the country in eligibility of working parents for health insurance under the Medicaid program for the poor — a family of three cannot earn more than $6,000 a year for parents to be eligible.

“You really see the pressure that working people in Virginia . . . are facing,“ said Michael Cassidy, executive director of The Commonwealth Institute, an advocacy group based in Richmond.

The coalition did not take positions on health-care reforms pending in Congress, but instead focused on steps Virginia policymakers can take now to expand access to health insurance, especially for children.

For example, the coalition urged state lawmakers to take advantage of a new federal law that would provide $111 million to Virginia over two years to insure more children under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The state would have to match the federal money by one-third and expand eligibility to children living in families with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty limit, or $66,150 for a family of four. The change would extend coverage to an estimated 20,000 uninsured children who aren’t eligible under the program’s current threshold of 200 percent of the federal poverty limit.

Advocates say the state also is doing a poor job of reaching an estimated 100,000 children who already are eligible for health-care coverage under the program, and that could reduce federal funding in the future.

“If we don’t spend money on insuring children in Virginia, we will lose federal dollars,“ said Jill A. Hanken, staff attorney at the Virginia Poverty Law Center.

The groups also want to ensure that doctors and other health-care providers don’t lose more money by serving people in the state’s Medicaid program.

“Our message is hold the line,“ said spokeswoman Joy Bechtold Jones. “We need to protect the level of available health care. Our message is it’s at risk.“

Doctors and other providers say they already receive a fraction of their cost to serve Medicaid patients. They are concerned that Virginia could cut reimbursements lower to make up an estimated $1.8 billion shortfall in the Medicaid program after federal stimulus money runs out next year. If that happens, doctors may cut back on service to Medicaid patients.

“We are concerned that the welfare of our patients in the current environment is at risk,“ said Dr. Samuel T. Bartle, an emergency room pediatrician at VCU Medical Center.