McAuliffe highlights plan to tackle ever-rising healthcare costs

Terry McAuliffe, his gubernatorial nomination in the bag, is back to releasing “bold” plans, this week’s aimed at rising healthcare costs.

Somebody obviously empaneled a focus group whose members overvalued the word “bold,” and then didn’t do a followup to learn how ridiculous it makes the McAuliffe campaign sound, to put out an endless stream of press releases touting everything they’re doing as being “bold.”

Anyway.

The issue is an important one, with nearly half of Virginians reporting that they had to go without standard healthcare in the past year because of the high costs of insurance.

The McAuliffe plan aims to make sure premiums are affordable, consumers are protected, and that the insurance marketplace is healthy and competitive.

As governor, McAuliffe is pledging to stand up Virginia’s new state healthcare exchange that was sponsored by Sen. Jennifer McClellan, implement a state reinsurance program, and create a Medicaid “buy-in” option on the exchange.

This Medicaid buy-in program will be available on the new state-based exchange for those who do not qualify for Medicaid but are unable to afford their coverage, and he will increase subsidies and tax credits for families in need.

McAuliffe is also pledging to work to create standardization among plans on the exchange to protect consumers, target outreach and enrollment services, as well as work directly with insurers to make sure that plans meet the healthcare needs of all Virginians.

“No Virginian should have to choose between getting the care they need or putting food on the table, and that is why one of my top priorities as governor will be making healthcare more affordable. I know we can do this because I have done it before,” McAuliffe said. “As Virginia’s 72nd Governor, I laid groundwork for the expansion of Medicaid that gave half a million Virginians critical health coverage. Unsurprisingly, extremist Trump-Republican Glenn Youngkin thinks it’s ‘sad’ that nearly 13,000 people were able to receive cancer treatment thanks to Medicaid expansion. Virginians deserve better, and just as I have done before I will fight extremists like him and ensure Virginians have access to affordable, quality healthcare.”