Healthcare and the Uninsured
More than 1 million Virginians – 15% of the population – lack Health Insurance, an increase from 13.3% in 2006. The number of working Virginians receiving health insurance through their job has decreased from 66.7% in 2006 to 61.9% in 2007. Of the uninsured citizens of the Commonwealth, 82% work either full or part time. Most of these persons work in businesses employing less than ten. This lack of insurance has a great impact on business productivity in the state and the economic viability of families. When children are not provided with preventative care because of lack of insurance, their illnesses are more serious and can require expensive trips to the emergency room by parents who can ill-afford to lose time from work. The family suffers, then, not only from the illness but also from the loss in wages and lost time from work.
Health care and insurance problems are even more acute for our elderly and low income populations. In the past two biennial budgets, Virginia has improved from 47th to 43rd in funding for Medicaid reimbursement for long term care. However, while Virginians enjoy a higher than average per capita income (ranked 8th in 2007), Medicaid spending per recipient ranks 31st in the nation and spending per capita is ranked near the bottom at 48th. These low reimbursement levels can make it challenging for patients receiving Medicaid assistance to find physicians willing to treat them.
To further complicate matters, it is projected that by 2020, Virginia’s nursing shortage will result in approximately 32% fewer nurses than necessary. There are approximately 2,000 new RNs each year and in 2015, the number of RNs leaving the workforce will exceed the number of new graduates. A bill that I sponsored helped to determine that this is not due to a lack of interest in the field of nursing. Nationally, nursing schools report that they turn away three qualified applicants for every applicant they accept because of inadequate capacity. The pressing need is to increase faculty. Currently, nursing faculty salaries are not competitive with other nursing positions, a significant problem that must be addressed.
At the state level, I support:
- Further expanding the number of children insured through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by requiring registration in the program when a student enters school each fall and by allowing students eligible for free and reduced lunches to enroll in the Virginia program. We know SCHIP works. As of August 1, 2009, 408,177 children are enrolled in FAMIS Plus (Medicaid Families and Children Aid), 56,172 children are enrolled in FAMIS and 40,355 are enrolled in SCHIP Medicaid Expansion, for a total enrollment of 504,704.
- Providing tax credits to employers who assist in the purchase of health insurance.
- Expanding nursing care availability at child care centers.
- Greater state involvement in regional purchasing pools for Medicaid purchases of prescriptions drugs.
- Permitting Virginians to buy reasonably priced, safe prescriptions drugs from Canada.
- Greater support for community based solutions such as free clinics, which can leverage more private and institutional monies to assist the poor and uninsured.
- Embracing strategies to ensure the long term supply of nurses is sufficient to meet future demands.
