Virginia Organizing applauds former Lt. Governor Bill Bolling for his support of Medicaid expansion and asks that the House Leadership stop its delay tactics.
In an Opinion piece in the Virginian-Pilot this week, former Lt. Governor Bill Bolling added his voice to that of many others, on both sides of the aisle, who are now calling for Virginia to expand Medicaid and close the coverage gap for thousands of Virginians. He wrote:
“I’m no fan of Obamacare, but it is the law and over the next 10 years Virginia families and businesses will be required to pay $26 billion to finance the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid expansion is the only way we can return any of this money to Virginia. While we certainly need to insist on continued reforms to make Medicaid more efficient and affordable, we must find common ground to enable thousands of uninsured families in Virginia to gain greater access to quality health care.”
In spite of this, the leadership of the Virginia House of Delegates announced a plan to audit the Medicaid system for two years before considering expansion.
Virginia Organizing calls on House Speaker William Howell, House Appropriations Chair Chris Jones, and House Appropriations Vice Chair Steve Landes to stop their delay tactics and expand Medicaid, which would provide health care coverage to 400,000 Virginians who currently lack it, create over 30,000 jobs, and save Virginia 1 billion dollars over the next nine years.
“This audit proposal is just a delay tactic by the House Leadership to keep expansion from moving forward,” stated Virginia Organizing State Chairperson Sandra Cook. “Thousands of Virginia families simply cannot afford to wait another two days, much less two years, for affordable health coverage. We applaud former Lt. Governor Bill Bolling for his stance, and we call on Speaker Howell, Delegate Jones, and Delegate Landes to stop this latest effort to delay expansion once again!”
To interview a spokesperson for Virginia Organizing, please contact Joe Szakos at (434) 981-0855 or szakos@virginia-organizing.org.
Virginia Organizing is a non-partisan statewide grassroots organization that brings people together to create a more just Virginia.
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