AFP-VA Disappointed in House For Passing Budget with Medicaid Expansion

Feb 22, 2018 by AFP

RICHMOND, VA – Americans for Prosperity-Virginia (AFP-VA) on Thursday reacted to the Virginia House of Delegates passing a budget (HB29) that would expand Medicaid to able-bodied adults. AFP-VA, the state’s leading free-market grassroots organization, views the House budget as both fiscally and morally irresponsible and a departure from conservative principles. AFP-VA supports the Senate budget, SB29, which excludes Medicaid expansion and will lead to more access to quality health care for all Virginians.

Earlier today, AFP-VA held a press conference with the Virginia Conservative Caucus and Virginia business and community leaders deriding the House’s attempt to implement Obamacare and threatening Virginia’s fiscal stability.

“The House can try and dress up Medicaid expansion with weak work requirements, but that doesn’t change the fact that Medicaid expansion is bad for Virginia. The House’s vote to surrender in the fight against Obamacare’s high costs and accepting Medicaid’s poor health outcomes is a betrayal to Virginia taxpayers. Now is the time to reform this broken program and ensure its long-term solvency, not spend billions of dollars on new handouts for able-bodied adults that crowd out services for our most vulnerable populations,” said AFP-VA State Director JC Hernandez. “We applaud the Senate for its steadfast opposition to expanding Medicaid and urge the legislature to reject the House budget that will cause irreparable damage to Virginia.”

Background:

The grassroots group recently sent a letter to lawmakers expressing its disappointment in the House’s budget proposal.

AFP activists have made tens of thousands of phone calls encouraging constituents to urge their legislators to vote against these dangerous bills. Virginians have also sent hundreds of emails directly to legislators urging them to vote against Medicaid expansion.

AFP-VA State Director JC Hernandez recently wrote an op-ed in the Richmond Times Dispatch that discussed ways to improve healthcare access in Virginia without expanding Medicaid.

Medicaid is simply not cost effective. Researchers from MIT, Harvard, and Dartmouth found that Medicaid recipients only receive about 20 to 40 cents of benefit for every dollar spent on Medicaid. Insurance companies, not low-income citizens, are the biggest winners of Medicaid expansion. Kaiser Health News recently reported that Medicaid insurer profits more than tripled in 34 states and the District of Columbia after Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.

For further information or an interview, reach Lorenz Isidro at LIsidro@afphq.org or (703) 887-7724.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) exists to recruit, educate, and mobilize citizens in support of the policies and goals of a free society at the local, state, and federal level, helping every American live their dream – especially the least fortunate. AFP has more than 3.2 million activists across the nation, a local infrastructure that includes 36 state chapters, and has received financial support from more than 100,000 Americans in all 50 states. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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