Earth Future Action supports efforts to expand access to health care, protect workers, strengthen patients’ rights, and improve accountability throughout Virginia’s health-care system.
We supported the passage of paid sick leave and stronger nursing-home oversight while recognizing that continued action is still needed to ensure that all Virginians receive safe, affordable, and accessible health care.
PAID SICK LEAVE — A MAJOR VICTORY FOR
VIRGINIA
Everyone is healthier when sick workers are allowed to take time
off. No one wants to go to a restaurant knowing that the chef is coughing on the
food. Yet for years, many Virginians had no choice but to work while sick
because they could not afford to lose a day’s pay.
Earth Future
Action also worked for years to support paid sick leave protections for
Virginia’s workers. In 2026, Virginia
finally passed House
Bill 5 and
Senate Bill 199, establishing
paid sick leave protections for workers throughout the state. The new law
will allow workers to earn up to 40 hours of paid sick leave each year to care
for themselves or their family members.
This is an important victory for
Virginia’s workers and public health. No one should have to choose between
protecting their health and earning the money needed to survive.
HEALTH INSURANCE IN VIRGINIA — A MAJOR HEALTH CARE SUCCESS
Virginia’s expansion of Medicaid was one of the
state’s greatest health-care achievements in recent history. Since taking effect
in 2019, Medicaid expansion has provided health coverage to hundreds of
thousands of low-income adults who previously had few affordable options.
For four years, Earth Future Action was part of the long battle to
expand health-care coverage to more of Virginia’s low-income residents.
Today, nearly
491,000 Virginians are enrolled through Medicaid expansion.
However,
this progress is now under threat. New federal eligibility requirements could
cause many Virginians to lose coverage in the coming years. Virginia must
protect Medicaid expansion and ensure that the progress already made is not
reversed.
The right to affordable health care should be protected and
expanded—not weakened.
REGULATION OF HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY
Virginia has made progress by creating its own
state health insurance marketplace, which enrolled more than
370,000 people in health
coverage for 2026. However, health insurance remains too expensive for many
individuals and families.
Rising insurance premiums and reduced federal
financial assistance have placed affordable coverage beyond the reach of many
Virginians. Greater regulation and accountability are still needed to protect
consumers from high costs, unfair practices, and the denial of necessary medical
care.
Health insurance companies should not be allowed to place profits
ahead of the health and lives of the people they are supposed to serve.
PATIENT RIGHTS
Not only does the right to health care need to be
protected, but more needs to be done at the state level to regulate institutions
such as hospitals and nursing homes. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands
of people die every year because of preventable medical errors, while millions
more may be injured.
And the state of Virginia is not exempt from these
abuses.
In 2025, Virginia passed
House Bill 2255
to provide funding for additional nursing-home inspectors and
Senate Bill 1383
to strengthen enforcement against facilities with repeated violations. In 2026,
House
Bill 1357 called for a comprehensive statewide assessment of nursing-home
quality, staffing, safety, inspections, and accountability.
These
measures are important steps forward, but continued oversight, strong
enforcement, and further reforms are still needed.
The sick and elderly
often lack a voice for themselves. Virginia must continue working to protect
them from neglect, abuse, and exploitation by the institutions responsible for
their care.
A SUMMARY OF OUR GOALS FOR HEALTH CARE IN VIRGINIA
- Greater regulation of the health insurance industry
- Greater regulation of nursing homes.
- Greater regulation of hospitals.
- The protection of patients rights from abuse by their providers. (Such as the protection of the sick and the elderly from abuse by health care workers).