Lawmakers may be on the verge of expanding health insurance to poor people. But they’re hearing opposition from the right and the left, according to Michael Pope at the Capitol.
Liberal groups don’t like the work requirement. Conservative groups fear higher taxes. That’s the needle lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are trying to thread as they head into an intense round of budget negotiations to expand Medicaid to 400,000 people who live in poverty or with disabilities. J.C. Hernandez at the right-leaning Americans for Prosperity says expanding Medicaid to healthy people would be a mistake.
“We’re expanding this massive Obamacare program to folks that are able-bodied and can work and we’re really leaving those who really need it, the sick, the ill, the disabled behind.”
Anna Scholl at left-leaning Progress Virginia says that new work requirement for people to get access to health insurance is an unnecessary barrier.
“You have to be healthy in order to be able to go to work, and for many of these low-income Virginians who have been going for years without reliable and steady access to quality health care, they need both tracks simultaneously.”
So while groups on the right and left are critical of the compromise, there’s another potential stumbling block. The lone Republican senator who supports Medicaid expansion is opposed to the hospital bed tax that funds the state’s portion of the cost.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
