Virginia smokers with Obamacare get a health insurance break

Virginia smokers with Obamacare coverage are getting a health insurance break this year, a State Corporation Commission report shows.

A new state law bans the tobacco use surcharge that insurers issuing Affordable Care Act policies had been levying.

That translates to average savings for covered smokers of $25.62 a month to $122.48, the SCC's review of insurance company rate filings found.

The commission said elimination of the surcharge should cut the number of uninsured Virginians by 14,000.

The state's Joint Commission on Health Care has suggested eliminating the surcharge, in order to encourage more people to buy coverage.

That means savings for non-smokers, too, the joint commission said. The theory is that when more people have coverage, the cost of providing health care is spread over a larger pool and the cost to each person in the pool should go down.

The Affordable Care Act allowed insurers to charge tobacco users up to 50% more than non-users. Virginia insurers' premiums for tobacco users were 5% to 20% higher than for non-users.

Six other states - California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont along with Washington, D.C. have banned the surcharge.

The SCC review also reported on smoking rates across the state.

The Richmond area's rates are all above the state average of 13.6%. In the city of Richmond, 17.2% of residents smoke; in Henrico County, the rate is 14.3%; in Chesterfield County, 14.7%; in Hanover County, 14.3%; in Goochland County, 14%; in Powhatan County 16.4% and in New Kent County, 15.9%.

Among other Virginia cities: Danville's rate is 23.4%, Bristol's is 23.2%, Lynchburg's is 18%, Waynesboro's is 19.2% and Charlottesville's 15.9%.

The lowest rate was in Falls Church, where just 8.4% of residents smoke. The highest was in Buchanan County in Southwest Virginia, where 27% of people smoke.