By Zamone Perez
Virginia News Connection
As Virginians prepare to cast ballots in this year’s midterm election, candidates and healthcare advocates are calling on Republicans to rescind cuts to Medicaid and enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits.
Last year, Republicans in Congress passed House Resolution 1, which cuts $1 trillion in Medicaid spending over the next decade. With the cuts, the Virginia Joint Commission on Healthcare estimated 13 of 36 rural hospitals in the Commonwealth are at some risk of closure.
Tom Perriello, a former congressman and returning candidate in Virginia’s 5th District, said facility closures in rural areas will inevitably affect urban healthcare systems, too.
“It’s not just screwing over rural communities. Where do you think those patients are going? They’re coming to Charlottesville and to Lynchburg, where we then have longer wait lines. We have a larger number of uncompensated care. And do you think the insurance companies take the loss? No. They pass it on to the rest of us,” Perriello contended.
Republicans in Congress argued the Affordable Care Act tax credits were only supposed to be temporary and their lapse saved billions of taxpayer dollars. Medicaid cuts, meanwhile, were intended to root out waste, fraud and abuse, while encouraging adult recipients without children to enter into the workforce.
Republicans denied Democratic efforts to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, which lapsed earlier this year.
Premiums on Affordable Care Act health insurance plans increased by an average 58%, leading hundreds of thousands of people in Virginia to forgo coverage, according to health policy organization KFF.
Christina Rivera, executive director of the nonprofit Called to Justice, said Republicans in Congress who voted for it deserve to feel ashamed.
“Their votes should keep them up at night, that every day that goes by is their missed opportunity and their failure to do right by their constituents and to reverse these cuts and bring back the tax credits,” Rivera argued.
An estimated 100,000 Virginians were affected when the tax credits ended, including those who have to pay higher premiums, lower their coverage amount to keep costs down or go without coverage altogether.
