With the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Senate vote to ban requiring individuals to purchase health insurance in its state, the Obama administration’s alternative plan of creating national health insurance exchanges is appearing less and less likely.
Virginia is just the first in a line of states across the country with angry Attorneys General and vocal corporate lobbyists opposing any federal mandate that penalizes people who opt not to buy health insurance in the absence of an employee-based group health insurance plan. In fact, to further vocalize its opposition to health care reform, the Virginia Senate Bill states “no individual can be forced to purchase health insurance, even if coverage is provided by the person’s employer.” Some observers think the Virginia legislation will likely become a model for other states to follow.
“This is not a bill that deals with health care; it is a bill that attempts to reinforce the Constitution of the United States,” said Sen. Frederick Quayle, R-Suffolk, who is sponsoring one of the bills. “Never in the history if this country has the Congress of the mandated that all citizens of the United States purchase anything.”
After a stunning defeat in the Massachusetts Senate race, Democrats are struggling with ways to address health care reform without dropping the movement altogether. The House and Senate have agreed to keep on keeping on in the journey toward true reform. But with states throwing up firewalls against any sort of mandate, reforms that have any sort of teeth are looking unlikely. Instead, we can look for little tweaks here and there when it comes to health insurance regulations. Once again, Virginia could embark on another first.
In an about-face to the insurance mandate, Virginia lawmakers have proposed a measure to require health insurance cover a controversial, but leading treatment for children suffering from Autism. Parents Donna Shank and Greg Rowe of Centreville, Va. are relieved to hear that their home state may do something to help them care for their 7-year-old autistic son Ryan.
The couple’s family health insurance doesn’t cover Ryan’s care. Faced with the prospect of moving to a state that covers their son’s treatment, Shank and Rowe have maxed out their credit cards, used all of their home equity and borrowed from family members to pay for Ryan’s treatment.
“It’s like a surreal nightmare, and you keep saying to yourself, ‘I’m educated, I’m capable, but I’m really struggling,” said Shank in a recent interview with Business Week.
Of course, federal law supersedes any state measure, but Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are very unlikely to intervene in state business like this. If the will of the people is to remain free from health insurance requirements, so it most assuredly it shall be.
Tags: corporate lobbyists, federal mandate, greg rowe, group health insurance, health insurance plan, massachusetts senate, national health insurance, senate vote, virginia legislation, virginia senate