Virginia’s General Assembly has refused to accept one of the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, expansion of Medicaid at almost no cost to Virginia that could have covered 400,000 uninsured Virginians and would have brought more than $10 billion into the state. It has also cost lives.

Ironically, the failed efforts to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act included changes to Medicaid that would have penalized states, like Virginia, that did not expand Medicaid, permanently reducing federal funding.

“In all of the bills proposed in the House and Senate to repeal the ACA, none of them left the non-expansion states better off,” said Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Monday, Aug. 21, in calling again for Virginia to expand Medicaid, almost entirely paid for by the federal government.

“I have called for Virginia to expand Medicaid for three and a half years now. In that time, we have forever forfeited a whopping $10.4 billion of our federal tax dollars,” McAuliffe said. “We have missed an opportunity to cover 400,000 low-income Virginians.”

More than 140,000 residents of Fairfax County have no health insurance. More than 40,000 residents of Arlington and Alexandria have no health insurance. That's more than 12 percent of the people who live in one of the wealthiest areas in the nation.

A Harvard Medical School study determined that the decision by 25 states to reject the expansion of Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act would result in between 7,115 and 17,104 more deaths than had all states opted in. In Virginia, the number of deaths due to failure to expand Medicaid: between 266 and 987.

Refusing to accept federal funds to provide healthcare to uninsured Virginians makes no more sense than declining federal funds for transportation or education.

In Virginia, 102,000 uninsured people with a mental illness or substance use disorder could qualify for coverage if Medicaid were expanded under the Affordable Care Act.

As Virginia wrestles with heroin and opioid addiction, expanding Medicaid would allow for expanding treatment programs. One of the big obstacles to helping people who are fighting addiction is the availability of treatment when it is most needed. More people die of opioid overdoses in Virginia than in vehicle crashes.

It is beyond cruel that an ideologically driven General Assembly can turn away health care for so many. It’s beyond understanding why the General Assembly would turn down billions of dollars in direct health care dollars, plus the tremendous boost to the economy and jobs that federal investment would generate.

— Mary Kimm

mkimm@connectionnewspapers.com