Virginia is $1.5 Billion Short, Yet McAuliffe Renews Calls for Medicaid Expansion

You may have seen reports that Virginia’s revenue projections have fallen drastically short, leaving the Commonwealth with a $1.48 billion (with a B) deficit to clear up.

At a press conference yesterday, Governor McAuliffe announced that short-term steps had been taken, including laying off 26 state government employees, postponing promised pay raises, defunding empty and new government positions, as well as cutting agency budgets.

All in all, with a bleak outlook, it’s always good to see cuts, rather than tax increases. Let’s remember, Tim Kaine in the same situation demanded more than $1 billion (with a B) in new taxes, a plan so laughable not a single Democrat supported it, and it was voted down 99-0 in the House. Rather than falling into the progressive mindset of more taxes, McAuliffe’s administration utilizing spending freezes and cuts is a refreshing change of pace.

But of course, as he’s wont to do, McAuliffe could not simply leave things there.

One of McAuliffe’s proposed solutions will be a renewed attempt to use federal money to expand Medicaid, which he said would free up $211 million a year in state funds now spent on mental health, inmate hospital care, and subsidizing uncompensated hospital care of uninsured Virginians.
“We can’t continue to leave that money on the table,” he said.

That’s right: Medicaid expansion. Again. For the fourth time.

Despite an avalanche of data that supports Republicans’ arguments on why expansion would be bad, and despite 62% of Virginians (rightfully) being concerned the federal government will not pay their share, McAuliffe continues to go to the well in hopes of achieving a gubernatorial legacy. As of now, he’s likely to be in the same conversation as previously mentioned Governor Kaine, a four year term with no lasting impact on the Commonwealth.

So facing a $1.5 billion shortfall, McAuliffe’s answer is to put Virginia on the hook for millions more in debt, tens of millions a decade from now, all for a short-term solution that solves less than 15% of the current deficit projections.

Despite data from the Centers of Medicare of Medicaid Services that state Medicaid costs per person had risen 49% since ObamaCare took effect.

Despite expansions state like Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio already dealing with soaring costs and pressure on their state budgets. For example, Kentucky has had to allocate more than $150 million over their initial projections to accommodate Medicaid expansion. Ohio has had to budget nearly double their initial projections; in both cases, the additional money is not covered by the federal government.

Despite the Democratic Governor of Minnesota declaring ‘the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable’, as more than 250,000 in the state will have their premiums increase by more than 50%.

This short-term fix that McAuliffe proposes is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Virginia would certainly would face higher taxes, higher budgets in the next decade by expanding, but now there’s sufficient data to suggest that the short-term fix would put the state budget in a more precarious position. By expanding Medicaid now, unless our projections are 100% correct (and data from other states indicate they would not be), we would be on the hook for any and all additional budget requirements to cover federal funding gaps.

Thankfully, there looks to be no budging from House Republicans on the issue.

House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, offered no hope for proponents of Medicaid expansion surviving the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.
“The last three years, the House has been very clear in its opposition to Medicaid expansion,” Jones said.