To: David A. Reid (VA-32)
Expand Medicaid Coverage for Virginia
Your constituents encourage you to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid in Virginia for 191,000 low-income and disabled Virginians. Expanding Medicaid will discourage using emergency rooms for primary care, will benefit veterans and the working poor, and will help create 30,000 new jobs in healthcare. It will also save Virginia taxpayers billions of dollars each year that are now diverted to states that have agreed to accept federal funding to help cover their uninsured citizens.
Why is this important?
Thousands of Virginia residents are caught in the "coverage gap" after the Supreme Court decision made Medicaid expansion optional under the Affordable Care Act. Paradoxically, their income is too high to qualify under Virginia's current meager Medicaid eligibility rules, but too low to get subsidies under the ACA to help pay for private coverage. Because the federal government is paying 100% of the cost of expanding coverage for the next several years, and not less than 90% thereafter, it makes no sense to reject these funds and allow other states to benefit from Virginia's federal tax dollars. Please encourage your Delegate, Tag Greason, to support Medicaid expansion in the special General Assembly session starting March 24.