Virginia Poverty Law Center

Virginians on health insurance marketplace see monthly premiums rise to ‘astonishing’ levels Small-business owners, middle-income families and older adults will be the hardest hit by the end of enhanced premium tax credits.

Cardinal News interviewed Marketplace shoppers and an Enroll Virginia navigator in this piece about rising health insurance premiums. If Congress doesn't extend enhanced premium tax credits, Virginia families will have to keep making tough decisions about coverage.

cardinalnews.org/2025/11/26/v...

SNAP Work Rules Strain Older Adults and State Systems State agencies are scrambling to avoid costly penalties and track an influx of paperwork

"​Down the line, the result of all this change could be that states pare back the food program and that older adults find themselves without needed assistance." www.aarp.org/advocacy/sna...

Take action today to urge your members of Congress to reverse the harmful SNAP cuts passed earlier this year and protect the vital hunger-fighting program: bit.ly/4puqk4G

Children's Defense Fund: while this "names some valid challenges with our child welfare system," it stops short of addressing disparities such as race and poverty "being used as an excuse for family separation." (2/2)

VPLC has long worked to ensure youth in foster care can get the support they need to be successful as they transition to adulthood—so we welcome the President's initiative to improve services and connections to young people aging out of care. But we echo Rev. Starsky Wilson, president of the (1/2)

SNAP participants already have to regularly recertify for benefits

it's every year for most, sometimes more often, sometimes a little less (like for elderly and disabled folks)

"Join our team. Policy Specialist or Staff Attorney VPLC is hiring a Policy Specialist or Staff Attorney to join our team of public benefits advocates and make systemic change improving access to essential programs for low-income Virginians. Apply at vplc.org/work-at-vplc"

Work at VPLC! Full listing and information about how to apply here: www.vplc.org/jobs/policy-...

UPDATE 11/13: SNAP households will receive 65% of the maximum benefit for their household size, not 65% of the benefit they typically receive. That means the November benefit amount will be slightly different than expected for some households.

Update for SNAP households: November 10, 2025 Starting this week, Virginia will no longer distribute VENA funds to SNAP households. Partial federal SNAP benefits are expected soon.

The Virginia Department of Social Services says benefits will be distributed by Thursday, November 13. Households are expected to receive 65% of their normal SNAP benefit amount.

This situation is changing quickly. Virginia Poverty Law Center will continue to share updates about Virginians’ SNAP benefits and food resources. You can find more information on the Virginia Department of Social Services website.

Important updates for Virginia SNAP recipients:

We estimate that USDA’s plan will result in a roughly 60% cut in average benefits. Because of how the SNAP benefit calculation works, USDA's plan to cut maximum benefits for each household size by 50% results in a deeper cut to average benefits—and a much deeper cut than needed.

New data: CBPP analyzed USDA’s contingency fund spending plan & found it is only going to release 2/3 of the funding they committed to in court filings, cutting families’ SNAP benefits far more than necessary, violating USDA’s own regulations & shortchanging millions of families.

Families cannot afford further delays. The Administration must immediately release the contingency reserves and use their legal authority to transfer additional funds so families can get the full benefits they need to buy food as quickly as possible.

Today’s rulings confirm what’s been clear all along: the Administration has been sitting on billions of available dollars that it is legally required to use to fund November benefits for the 1 in 8 Americans who need SNAP to afford their groceries.

Virginia becomes first state to fund food assistance amid federal SNAP pause What you need to know about how Virginia got here, where it’s going next and how the state’s most vulnerable populations are affected.

This Cardinal News report about the impact of federal uncertainty around SNAP benefits highlights the stories of Virginians who rely on the program to stretch their food budgets and put meals on the table for their families: cardinalnews.org/2025/10/31/v...

Virginia Fresh Match is offering a November Harvest Special to help SNAP households stretch their food budget next month. More details and participating locations: www.virginiafreshmatch.org/locate#harve...

SNAP’s Contingency Reserve Is Available for Regular SNAP Benefits, as USDA and OMB Have Ruled in Past The Administration must use all available options to fund November benefits for the 1 in 8 people in the U.S. who need SNAP to afford their grocery bill.

The Trump Administration’s assertion that it can't use SNAP’s contingency reserves for SNAP benefits is contrary to:
▪️The plain language of the law
▪️Their own (now deleted) shutdown plan
▪️Guidance from prior Administrations

We have the receipts:

Trump Administration Severely Limits Rural Health Transformation Funds for Rural Hospitals and Clinics – Capped at 15% Passage of the budget reconciliation law signed into law by President Trump (HR1) will result in a gross reduction of $990 billion in federal Medicaid and CHIP spending over 10 years and an increas…

Trump Administration Severely Limits Funding for Rural Hospitals and Clinics from Rural Health Transformation Fund – Capped at 15%

ccf.georgetown.edu/2025/10/21/t...

Hunger is a policy choice. Georgetown Law professor David Super outlines in the blog post linked below why USDA's refusal to ensure SNAP families can put food on the table is also illegal:

Hunger and Food Insecurity Survey / Encuesta sobre el hambre y la inseguridad alimentaria The Western Center on Law & Poverty is asking for your help. We are based in California, but are working to protect SNAP benefits for everyone. / El Western Center on Law & Poverty (una organización d...

The Western Center on Law & Poverty is collecting survey responses about hunger and SNAP from SNAP recipients nationwide to try to protect SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.

You can take the short survey here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

"Augusta Health has pointed to decreased revenues from Medicaid because of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act as one reason for the closings. The legislation restricts use of provider taxes and direct payments to help reimburse hospitals for treating patients under Medicaid."

With clinics closed, Churchville’s predicament could foreshadow things to come for more of rural Virginia The tiny community of Churchville in western Augusta County no longer has a doctor’s office. Its clinic was one of three recently shuttered by Augusta Health.

With clinics closed, Churchville’s predicament could foreshadow things to come for more of rural Virginia: cardinalnews.org/2025/10/16/c...

Virginians deserve reliable access to the health care AND food assistance they need. Virginians struggling to make ends meet will also feel the impact of expiring premium tax credits—which help lower monthly health plan costs—if Congress fails to take action to make them permanent.

USDA Must Act: States Need Guidance to Prevent November Food Crises Richmond, VA — As the federal government shutdown continues, millions of Americans are caught in uncertainty, including those who rely on SNAP benefits.

USDA must act immediately to use its contingency fund—which totaled around $6 billion when estimates were last released under the previous administration—to prevent a food assistance gap. Clear USDA guidance is urgently needed before November 1. www.vplc.org/press-releas...

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has warned states that, because of the federal shutdown, there may not be enough funding to provide a full month of November SNAP benefits. States have been told to hold their benefit files, creating uncertainty for millions of families.

9/16/25 ☀️ AM: PRESENTED BY IN THIS EDITION Johnson’s tall tasks going into todaySenate may skip the NDAA againThe Vault: Why Dems want Obamacare deal nowJeffries silent

This is NOT an end-of-year issue. Open enrollment runs Nov.1 – Jan.15 for most states and window shopping begins in October. If Congress waits until Dec.31, 1.5 million more people will be uninsured in 2026 compared to an earlier extension. (4/4)
tinyurl.com/mr2bhszc

Virginia’s 2026 ACA marketplace window shopping is underway, meaning people are already seeing next year’s premiums spike because of expiring tax credit enhancements. A typical 60-year-old couple making $85,000 in Virginia will face a $18,000 increase in annual premiums. (1/4)

Join us in Blacksburg, Oct 20th. Free! register here: bit.ly/SWVACandidat...

The report out of @vplc.bsky.social and the RVA Eviction Lab is so important. "In 2024, judges awarded nearly $18 million in fees to landlord attorneys in residential eviction cases across Virginia, a 48% increase from 2019, even as eviction judgments fell 19%" rvaevictionlab.org/2025/09/27/u...

Unreasonable: Report from Virginia Poverty Law Center and RVA Eviction Lab Unreasonable: The Dramatic Rise in Attorney Fees Charged to Tenantsin Virginia Residential Eviction Proceedings is a report from the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) and the RVA Eviction Lab. In …

A new report by @vplc.bsky.social and the RVA Eviction Lab looks at attorney fees in eviction cases:

In 2024 in VA, judges awarded nearly $18 million in fees to landlord attorneys, a 48% increase from 2019, even as eviction judgments fell 19%.

rvaevictionlab.org/2025/09/27/u...

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