RICHMOND, VA — About 161,000 working Virginians who do not have health insurance but work in some of the most critical sectors of the state's economy would get coverage under an expansion of Medicaid, according to analysis released today by The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis in Richmond.

"These numbers show that the biggest gains in health coverage will come in the largest and most important sectors of Virginia's economy," says Michael Cassidy, President of the non-profit, non-partisan economic and fiscal policy organization in Richmond. 

Workers in five of the state's six largest employment sectors have the most to gain, including:

• Tourism: 33,300
• Retail Trade: 26,100 
• Educational, Health, and Social Services: 23,900
• Professional and Business Services: 20,200   
• Construction: 18,700   

Roughly 76 percent of all the working adults who would be newly eligible for coverage – about 122,000 people – work in those five industries, according to the report. 

"Expanding health coverage is a smart investment in the hard-working people who call Virginia home and make the economy tick," says Cassidy.

The full report, Working Without Coverage, can be found here.