Virginia legislators call out federal government threat to Medicaid access

Two Virginia legislators called out Congress for jeopardizing Medicaid access in Virginia and across the country.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump ordered a temporary freeze on all federal funding, including funds that supported Medicaid in Virginia. The order was subsequently blocked by a federal judge until Feb. 3 and prompted the Trump administration to rescind its controversial memo announcing the freeze.

Still, Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, and Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, aren’t happy about it. Hashmi’s Chief of Staff June Laffey spoke about the threat to Medicaid access in a press conference on Thursday.

“Let us be crystal clear:” Laffey said. “We are here today because Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans prioritize themselves and their ultra wealthy friends over hardworking people.”

Virginia is one of the six states that has trigger laws that go into effect if the federal government’s funding of Medicaid falls below 90%. If this were to happen under the current budget, the state would start disenrolling recipients who received coverage as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

A budget amendment introduced by Deeds and Hashmi would eliminate the automatic Medicaid expansion termination language in the budget. The amendment would task a General Assembly joint subcommittee, on which Deeds serves as vice chair, to make recommendations for the preservation of health care access to “as many Medicaid members as possible.”

“Over 600,000 people are at risk of losing access to healthcare because of this irresponsible act, this is something that is gonna affect real Virginians,” Deeds said.

Approximately two million people in Virginia are covered by Medicaid and 630,000 are covered under the Medicaid expansion program. In 2018, Virginia expanded its Medicaid program to include more low-income adults. Medicaid expansions cover adults younger than 65 whose income is 138% below the federal poverty level.

“Over one in 10 adults have access to healthcare thanks to expansion,” said Ashley Kenneth, President and CEO of the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, “and it has been a lifeline for rural hospitals.”

Katina Moss, a Richmond resident, lived without health insurance before the GA Medicaid expansion in 2018.

“Cost was no longer a barrier to seeking the care that I needed. No person in Virginia should have to choose between affording care for themselves or providing for their family,” Moss said.

In 2023, Virginia funded around $692 million on Medicaid expansion while the federal government covered the remaining 90%, or $6.2 billion, according to KFF.

“If the federal share is trimmed from 90% to 50%, which is the federal share of the remainder of Medicaid, that’s $2.5 billion, I don’t know where that money would come from,” Deeds said. “This is on the federal government to fix.”

If the federal government does roll back support for Medicaid, Deeds did not rule out the possibility of holding a special session to address the consequential fallout.

“If we are faced with that circumstance, we will just have to deal with it,” he said.