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General Assembly has not yet decided to expand Virginia’s
Medicaid program, leaving the “coverage gap” wide open.
Those who make up this coverage gap include Virginia parents,
veterans, individuals with disabilities, and adults whose incomes
are just not sufficient enough to purchase health insurance.
While it provides a number of vehicles to extend health coverage
to more people, the Affordable Care Act’s expanded coverage is
partially financed by cuts to hospital payments. These cuts have
already contributed to the closure of one Virginia hospital in Lee
County. Tax dollars paid by Virginians to the federal government
finance the ACA as well, but by closing the coverage gap, most
of those dollars are returned to the Commonwealth. If Virginia
leaves the coverage gap open, we are choosing not to reinvest our
tax dollars back into Virginia—and still hundreds of thousands of
Virginians remain without coverage.
Virginia can close this gap and choose to change the system
now. We can reclaim the $5 million that we send to Washington
every day. Instead of closing down hospitals, we can close this
coverage gap. We can assist in the creation of an estimated 30,000
jobs that are projected to result from expanding the number of
people with insurance. We can net Virginia a savings of nearly $1
Billion between now and 2022. Closing the coverage gap is the
right thing to do for Virginia’s people, Virginia’s economy, and
Virginia’s future.
Virginia’s current health care system
leaves many people without access to
health care. For many years, Virginians
without an option for affordable health
insurance have relied on a patchwork of
safety net services. Hospital emergency
rooms provide necessary, immediate
treatment, but they cannot treat the root
causes of chronic conditions in the manner
of a primary care professional. Virginia’s
community clinics, which provide life-
saving services to many of our uninsured,
often have long waiting lists for appointments. In some parts of
the Commonwealth, schools are losing valuable instructional time
because they are bringing health care providers in to treat their
students.
While people with incomes between 100% and 400% of the
Federal Poverty Level (FPL) ($23,850 and $95,400 respectively
for a family of four) are eligible for subsidized health insurance on
the Marketplace, those with incomes below 100% of the FPL are
not. The Affordable Care Act addressed this group by mandating
Medicaid expansion, which would have offered Medicaid coverage
for all adults with incomes at or below 133% FPL. The Supreme
Court made the expansion optional for states, and the Virginia
Closing the Coverage Gap
By The Honorable William Hazel Secretary of Health and Human Resources
Close the Coverage Gap
& Keep Our Money at Home
Today there is a health coverage gap in Virginia, and it is costing Commonwealth tax payers millions.
Thankfully, we have the opportunity to reinvest that money in our families and businesses
while providing affordable health insurance to Virginians who need it. We cannot
stop sending dollars to Washington, but we can stop leaving them there.
Provide affordable
health insurance to
400,000
hard-working individuals
and families.
Reinvest
$5 MILLION
per day of Virginians federal tax
dollars here at home.
Protect our hospitals from an expected
$400 MILLION
shortfall by covering care for the uninsured.
Save Virginia’s businesses over
$1 BILLION
per year and create
30,000 NEW JOBS
in the Commonwealth.
Closing the coverage gap will have an annual
$3.9 BILLION
impact on the Commonwealth’s economy.
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