May 24, 2009
Panel offers advice on health care, insurance
The Richmond Times-Dispatch hosted an online chat Monday about health care and health-insurance options for the unemployed. The chat featured three experts:
- Jill A. Hanken with the Virginia Poverty Law Center;
- Trisha Steiniger with United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg; and
May 17, 2009
Job loss presents big challenges on health coverage
When Gwendolyn Robinson of Goochland was laid off in February, it didn’t affect her alone. Her husband counted on the health insurance she carried through her work as a receptionist. They pondered their options: continuing coverage through a federal program, short-term insurance or going without. And then Milton Robinson Jr. got a blazing toothache.
May 10, 2009
A gap in the health-insurance lifeline
Virginians who have lost their jobs in a wave of layoffs since September have a new lifeline for health insurance, but only if their former employers still have health plans and know about the obligation to offer continuing coverage. The federal stimulus package adopted in February will pay 65 percent of healthinsurance premiums for laid-off workers for up to nine months, while a newly adopted state law will offer the same opportunity for people cut by small businesses since the beginning of September through the end of this year.
March 31, 2009
Kaine proposes using stimulus money for jobless benefits
Likening the nation’s economic condition to the Great Depression, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday proposed a stimulus-backed expansion and extension of unemployment benefits, health insurance and food stamps for out-of-work Virginians. Kaine also said he would sign the recession-revised two-year, $77 billion budget passed last month by the General Assembly, making only a few revisions. Those are three line-item vetoes that will restore about $3.4 million in cuts made to public broadcasting, fire-safety programs and the state’s division of Weights and Measures.
March 07, 2009
Your Health Q&A - If you no longer are insured, options exist
Q:I have run in to two cases in the past two weeks where people lost their health insurance when they became unemployed, and they immediately looked to cancel important testing. What is the situation? Answer: People new to the ranks of the uninsured may be lost when it comes to finding free or low-cost resources to help them with medical needs. As a result, many might put off medical care. According to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 54 percent of Americans said they cut back on health-care spending in the past 12 months because of financial concerns.
February 25, 2009
Laid-off Circuit City workers to lose health coverage
Laid-off Circuit City employees won’t have access to health insurance benefits after March 31. The news that they will lose their COBRA benefits comes as the Henrico County-based retailer asks a federal bankruptcy judge today to approve up to $4.6 million in retention bonuses for more than 150 executives, high-level managers and other workers.
January 10, 2009
Report: COBRA too costly for many
When Doug Ashworth left his job last year as a firefighter because of health problems, he lost his health insurance. He had the option of continuing his insurance under his former employer’s plan, but he would have to pay the entire premium. “It was going to be $1,100 a month,“ said Ashworth. “When you lose your job and they want $1,100 a month for health insurance, who can afford it? You lose your job, you still have to make your house payment, car payment, utilities, and they want $1,100 a month?“
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