I was Republican Senator Orrin
Hatch’s special counsel when he was chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor
and Human Resources; I was especially proud to hear Hatch’s statement last June
commending the states to participate in the expansion of Medicaid, to cover adults
earning 138 percent of the poverty level, thus providing needed health care for
those who were ill who couldn’t afford to care for themselves.
An income level of 138 percent works
out to about $14,856 for an individual and $30,656 for a family of four. Compare those levels to your income and expenses,
and those you may know who could be helped by this legislation.
In Virginia, this provision would
cover 400,000 more Virginians, create 30,000 more jobs, bring $21 billion in
federal funding over several years into our state.
Democratic Congressman Gerry
Connolly, in neighboring Fairfax County, put it this way, if we opt in, our
state shall receive “$17 in federal funds for every state dollar it spends on
its Medicaid expansion program.”
For
three years, the federal government pays for extended Medicaid benefits; the
state only picks up more of the cost in the later years climbing to 10 percent
in 2021 and beyond.
Senator Hatch said, “No state can
afford to opt out. There’s no state in
its right mind that wouldn’t take the money because they’re going to have all
those additional people they’re going to have to care for.”
Twenty
Five States and DC have opted in for those reasons; candidates for office and
office holders who had reservations about the program, after the Supreme Court
upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), came around.
For
example, Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer gave a January state of the
state message endorsing Medicaid expansion.
New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie announced his support in
February. Florida’s
Republican Governor Rick Scott announced his state will participate at least
for three years; he ran for Governor of the State in strong opposition to this
Medicaid program and anything having to do with ACA.
But here in Virginia, we’re slow to
the mark.
For starters, in Loudoun County, our
motto is “we byde our time,” and that’s a fine motto but actually “byding” our
time in this case costs Virginia billions in lost Medicaid funding. If we don’t get the funds, we lose the funds
to someone else.
Nevertheless, our Loudoun County
Board of Supervisors opposed Medicaid. You’re
right, if you’re asking what does our Board have to do with it? Apparently, Suzanne Volpe (R-Algonkian) just
couldn’t stand it ideologically, and she proposed a resolution to oppose
expansion by our General Assembly; Ms. Volpe doesn’t “believe” the federal
government will actually pay the funds. No
proof of that. No facts. It’s just her “belief.” Our Board is now on record in opposition to
these Medicaid funds and the care and jobs that come with the funds.
Our Republican State Senators opposed
Medicaid expansion as well. Senator Dick
Black, who represents part of Loudoun County, explained, in defense of his
opposition, how he personally contributed funds to a single Medicaid family
(sounding empathetic – you know - like he really cared). But then Senator Black Heart threw the girls
in that family under the bus, criticizing them for spending $50 on plastic caps
for each of their teeth to guard against tooth decay. Black said a 50 cent tooth brush and paste
was good enough when he was a kid. Presumably,
he considered the cost of these plastic caps to be wasteful Medicaid spending. Black didn’t go even further to extoll the
virtue of General George Washington’s false wooden teeth that so tortured our
first President. I suspect if Washington
were here today he’d embrace the advances of modern dentistry that Senator
Black apparently decries.
Our Governor and our Attorney
General (now running for Governor) oppose extending Medicaid and have, as far
as it appears, reneged on a last minute deal that everyone (wrongly) assumed
would mean our General Assembly would approve these Medicaid funds – for the
good of the people – after some “slight” delay. Our Governor says we misunderstood what this
agreement meant. I know what it
meant. It was a dodge to agree to get
his transportation bill passed.
You may fairly ask, what these opponents
of Medicaid are thinking? Truth is they really
are not “thinking.” Their ideological
chimera confound what’s in the people’s best interest.
In the swampy political terrascape
that is Washington, DC, the Congressional Budget Committee Chair, Congressman
Paul Ryan, back from his unsuccessful run for Republican VP, is doing his best
to make even worse the plight of those who are poor, disabled and elderly
Medicaid enrollees from middle class households.
Instead of the feds helping the
states, Ryan wants to shift Medicaid entirely to the States, and here’s the
rub, the apparent reason is to give the states an opportunity to cut back, and even
eliminate Medicaid.
If the Governor of Virginia hasn’t
found his senses by the time you review this comment, write, call, fax him and let
him know that delaying and certainly losing billions of dollars, jobs and health
coverage is not a sound government policy for our Commonwealth.
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