Augusta County Board of Supervisors member tracy pyles is hosting a public information session on proposed Medicaid expansion on Saturday. The session will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in the Board of Supervisors public meeting room at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona.
Pyles said his goal is to “try to show the problems we have now because of the $40 million of uncompensated medical care now absorbed by Augusta Health.”
“People of goodwill can have conflicting opinions but everyone should have as much information as is available to support those opinions,” Pyles said.
Topics covered will include the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and the consequences of that unfunded federal mandate on cost shifting by the hospitals and other potential harm.
Pyles will also talk about how expanding Medicaid impacts the state government. Studies have suggested an estimated $1 billion in savings over nine years and local help on rescue transports, school re-imbursements for services, insurance help for Middle River Regional Jail inmates needing off-site medical services, and how it unfairly uses the most vulnerable of “working” residents as political pawns.
“I am using any resources I have to try to encourage folks to come out and hear some things about this political hot potato that may help in understanding more fully what is at stake for us in the county and for the state,” Pyles said.
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Chris Graham
