On Monday, Tom Perriello’s campaign for governor will shift its field resources to pressuring Republican members of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates to support Medicaid expansion in Virginia ahead of the General Assembly’s return to Richmondon Wednesday.
This follows Gov. McAuliffe’s reintroduction of Medicaid expansion as a budget amendment for consideration, after Republican efforts in Washington to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed.
The campaign’s field operation on Monday will dedicate its resources to mobilizing grassroots action to pressure Republican Senators and Delegates to end their obstruction of Medicaid expansion, which is costing Virginia billions of dollars and preventing hundreds of thousands of in-need Virginians from accessing health care. Organizers and volunteers will conduct phone banks and outreach efforts to mobilize Virginians to call the offices of their Republican Senators and Delegates and urge them to support Medicaid expansion once and for all. Virginians interested in joining this day of action can sign up and learn more about how to get involved at go.tomforvirginia.com/page/s/170403-medicaid-day-of-action.
“By continuing to oppose Medicaid expansion, Virginia Republicans are putting petty politics above people’s lives and livelihoods,” said Perriello. “With the failure of Trumpcare in Washington, Republican obstruction to Medicaid expansion in the legislature is only further hurting Virginia’s budget and economy and Virginians who most need access to care. If Kansas’s overwhelmingly Republican legislature can back expansion, what’s our excuse?”
This week, Kansas’s GOP legislature — its Senate is more than 77 percent Republican, its House 68 percent — passed Medicaid expansion by large margins, marking a turning point in the debate over whether to expand Medicaid in Republican-controlled states.
“Governor McAuliffe did the right thing by bringing this issue back to the fore,” Perriello said, “and as Governor, I would follow his lead and fight until Medicaid expansion is finally a reality in Virginia. Virginia Republicans are out of excuses. It’s time to take this important step for our Commonwealth.”
According to Vox, Virginia’s Medicaid program would grow to include 400,000 low-income residents under expansion — giving more of those with the most need access to care. Additionally it is estimated that failure to expand Medicaid costs Virginia $4.6 million a day, or $2.6 billion per year, and that expanding Medicaid could create upwards of 30,000 jobs.
In his campaign for governor, Perriello has committed to pushing Medicaid expansion as governor, as well as expanding access to health care services like mental health and reproductive care.
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Chris Graham
