Virginia lawmakers are joining forces with local health care advocates in response to U.S. House Republicans voted to advance a budget in February which included drastic Medicaid cuts.
More than half of Virginia‘s federal funding provides health coverage for 1.8 million state residents. As legislators gear up for a budget reconciliation fight in Congress, local Medicaid recipients, providers and state legislators gathered at the General Assembly building to fight back.
Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, who represents Virginia’s Fourth District and General Assembly Members Sen. Ghazala Hashmi and Del. Mark Sickles held a press conference highlighting the importance of Medicaid to the state budget, local health care systems and warning against Republicans’ proposed cuts that would kick 630,000 Virginians off their health insurance.
“Those proposing Medicaid cuts are misinforming us and telling folks that people who are receiving Medicaid are using the system, abusing the system and don’t want to work when, in fact, a large majority of Medicaid recipients do work. It’s insulting, and I am angry to hear that my daughter is lazy and abusing the system — my daughter is fighting for her life. She has worked most of her life since she was 18 years old until she was diagnosed last year with breast cancer at 43 years of age. During chemotherapy, she tried to work part time until the effects were causing such fatigue and pain that she could no longer work,” said community leader Aida Pacheco, advocating on her daughter’s behalf.
McClellan said that House Republicans claim not to be trying to cut Medicaid although they adopted a budget which requires cuts to Medicaid.
“Speaker Mike Johnson says that the people on Medicaid are 29-year-olds sitting in their moms’ house playing video games. With all due respect, Mr. Speaker, that’s a lie,” McClellan said.
She said Medicaid recipients are pregnant women, postpartum mothers, sick children, poor children and seniors, as well as disabled individuals.
Hashmi and Sickles warned about the serious implications for the state without the continued crucial funding that health care providers, nursing homes and hospitals rely on to meet the needs of their communities and provide quality care.
“One of the most enjoyable parts of my job as a family doc is caring for kids and seeing them thrive. Children are the largest group of Medicaid beneficiaries in the United States. And all kids need the services that Medicaid provides…The data show that compared with uninsured kids, children with Medicaid miss less school, are more likely to graduate from high school, and grow into healthier adults. Pediatric patients are the future of Virginia, and we simply cannot close doors when it comes to their healthcare,” Dr. Danielle Avula, a family physician at a local safety net clinic, said.
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Rebecca Barnabi
