State Senator Creigh Deeds says he’s deeply disappointed in Republican Congressmen who supported a bill that will hurt their constituents. They did it, he says, to curry favor with Donald Trump.
"They fear crossing the president," he says. "It’s a simple as that -- just did so out of political cowardice."
Without Medicaid money, he predicts many rural hospitals will close and some major medical centers will also be in trouble.
"VCU and UVA hospitals – they are Medicaid providers of the last resort – their reimbursement of Medicaid services is going to go down by over 50%."
People who get insurance through Obamacare may no longer be able to afford their premiums as the bill eliminates federal tax credits that helped pay for coverage, and drug treatment programs plan to cut services in places like Henry County where Michael Sizemore works with the Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery Alliance. While funding goes down, he says, other things will go up.
"We’re going to see a higher number of relapses or a higher number of obituaries."
Deeds adds that fixes to this problem can be made in the years to come, but many people will lose their lives waiting.
