Health Care Law Overview

Virginia Organizing continues to work on improving access to health care for moderate and low income Virginians.
A major commitment of Virginia Organizing is to educate the public about the new health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Virginians are already benefiting from the ACA: young adults have
returned to their parents' health insurance policies, adults are accessing the high-risk pool, and pre-existing condition limits for children have been eliminated. Virginia Organizing is interested in keeping those benefits and in accessing the additional reforms and improvements contained in the ACA legislation.

How the Affordable Care Act Helps the People of Virginia:

Cracks Down on Insurance Company Abuses
•    Insurers will no longer be able to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition or drop your coverage when you get sick.
•    Insurers will no longer be able to charge higher premiums based on your gender or health status.
•    Virginians have been paying more for coverage and getting less. Insurers finally will be required to spend more of our premium dollars on actual medical care and quality measures.

Ends Runaway Premiums for the Middle Class
•    Uninsured Virginians will be able to gain coverage through a competitive marketplace called an “exchange.” By forcing insurance companies to compete, exchanges will drive down costs, guarantee choice, and put consumers in control.
•    People with moderate incomes (for example, a family of four making up to $88,000) will get help paying their premiums.

Provides Financial Security and Stability
•    All of Virginia’s 1,072,000 seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare will no longer have to pay for preventive services, and many will have more help paying for prescriptions.
•    Health reform will set limits on how much families will have to spend on health care out of their own pockets (on copayments, deductibles, etc.).
•    Insurers will no longer be able to put yearly or lifetime limits on how much they will pay for your care if you get sick.
•    Health reform will reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion in the next 10 years and will save $1.2 trillion more in the following two decades.
Expands Coverage, Saves Lives
•    Young adults can stay on their parents’ health plans up to the age of 26.
•    Health reform will save lives. Without reform, an estimated 5,600 Virginians would have died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage over the next decade.
•    724,000 uninsured Virginians will gain insurance coverage by 2019.