Virginia’s health status

Virginia’s health status has been improving over the past year, and according to America’s Health Rankings, it’s the 20th healthiest state to live in the US. These are good news for Virginians, as they are overall above average. Key factors helping the state improve its health over the past year include a decrease in the prevalence of smokers within the state, and a decrease in the violent crime rate, boosting the state’s rank and making it the 11th state with the lowest violent crime rate in the US. Another thing that helped tremendously this state, is the increase in public health funding per capita.

Other strengths for Virginia include a low percentage of children in poverty at 13.3% of persons under age 18, ready access to primary care with 124.0 primary care physicians per 100,000 population, few poor mental health days per month at 3.0 days in the previous 30 days, and a reduced number of infectious disease case incidence. Also, a great piece of news for Virginians: Virginia ranks higher for health determinants than for health outcomes, indicating that overall healthiness should improve over time as was the case this year.

There is still room for improvement when it comes to health in this state, and some of the key issues that should be worked are lowering the high rate of uninsured population (which has reached 14.1 percent), lowering the state’s high infant mortality rate, which is now at 7.0 deaths per 1,000 live births, lowering the high geographic disparity within the state (which increased 0.6% in the past year and is now at 15.5%), and reducing the high rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease at 291.0 deaths per 100,000 population and the high rate of cancer deaths at 198.0 deaths per 100,000 population.

Virginia is in a good position within the country, when it comes to health. It’s an healthy place to live, and it seems like it will keep getting better. Nevertheless, there are still things to be worked on, but as long as they keep working as hard as they have, Virginians should have nothing to worry, as most of its health measures are either average or above average.

Virginia health insurance information

Despite having an efficient health care system, and good public health funding, about 85.9 percent of the Virginia residents have Health Insurance the percentage of people lacking it (14.1%) is above average. Public Health funding and primary health care are strong in this country, which is shown by the good adequacy and efficiency of the system, but accessibility can still be improved . The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is good, with 56.7% percent of employers offering health Insurance plans. This percentage has been steadily decreasing since 2003. About 77.3% of workers take the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers.

Virginia is in good shape of this state when it comes to health, in part thanks to the strong public health funding per capita is and the excellent rate of primary care physicians for the population, 124 physicians per 100,000 population. With a slight increase in accessibility, Virginia can become an even healthier state. The percentage of the Virginia population that could get medical care when needed is good at 89.1 %. The patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL stands at 11.2%.

If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:

Best health plans in Virginia

The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for Virginia as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.

Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.

Get involved

If you are concerned about Virginia’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.

If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.

Contact the White House PHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) FAX: 1 202-456-2461 E-MAIL:comments@whitehouse.gov State officials: Virginia Governor Tim Kaine Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor 1111 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219 Senator Mark R. Warner PHONE: 202-224-2023 (DC office) FAX: 202-224-6295 (DC office) Senator Jim Webb PHONE: 202-224-4024 (DC office) FAX: 202-228-6363 (DC office) Web Form: Contact Form Official Virginia health insurance information Virginia’s Bureau of Insurance Consumer information for state citizens dealing with agents or companies. Virginia Department of Health A site rich in information for Virginia citizens concerned about their health. Virginia Health Insurance Guide for Consumers State of Virgina’s PDF document with information about traditional health insurance and managed care health insurance plans. FAMIS (Family Access to Medical Insurance Security) Virginia’s low-cost health insurance for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but do not have private health insurance.		Recent Virginia health insurance news Health Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of Virginia and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for Virginia: