Sen. Kaine Releases Report on How Medicaid Cuts Would Harm Virginia Public Schools

From Sen. Tim Kaine’s office:

KAINE RELEASES REPORT ON HOW MEDICAID CUTS IN ‘TRUMPCARE’ AND TRUMP BUDGET WOULD HARM VIRGINIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

District-by-District Report Shows Virginia Schools Received Nearly $33 Million in Medicaid Reimbursements in Most Recent Reporting Years 

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released a district-by-district report on the importance of Medicaid to Virginia’s public schools and how the $1.3 trillion combined cuts to Medicaid in the Trump budget and the Republican health care plan – known as TrumpCare – would harm schools and the children who attend them. In Virginia alone, for the most recent reporting school years, school districts received nearly $33 million in federal Medicaid funding for school-based services for students. Schools use Medicaid dollars to cover health-related services for eligible children and for services provided in a child’s special education plan under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

The Trump Administration’s proposed cut to Medicaid would put these funds for Virginia schools in jeopardy. In Virginia, more than one million individuals, including 600,000 kids, rely on Medicaid for health care coverage. In schools, Medicaid dollars are used for both primary and preventive care such as vision and hearing screenings, diabetes and asthma diagnosis and management, occupational and physical therapy, nursing care, mental health evaluation and services, special education aides and instructors in classrooms, and other services and personnel provided to students with disabilities.

“In Virginia, our children and schools would be the largest demographic hurt by Republican plans to cut Medicaid as part of the TrumpCare bill,” Kaine said. “Sixty percent of those on Medicaid and CHIP in the Commonwealth are children, and I have heard from teachers, parents, and school officials who are terrified by what these cuts could mean for their students and their families. Medicaid enables many kids to go to school, plain and simple. It shocks me that some people say that cutting these programs would end a dependence on these programs, when these programs are the thing that allow our students to be independent and thrive in the classroom. We will, and should, be judged by how we treat our children and I will not cast aside the most vulnerable members of our society to give a tax break to the wealthy.”

On Monday, Kaine hosted a roundtable with parents, educators, school-based health-care providers, and school leaders at Albemarle High School in Charlottesville to discuss their concerns with the massive cuts to Medicaid proposed by Republicans. At the event, he heard from parents of children, including two with autism and cerebral palsy, who are able to access a high-quality education thanks to Medicaid funding as well as a special education teacher who was concerned about the impact of proposed cuts on the care she delivers to her students.

Below is the list of school districts across Virginia that received federal Medicaid funding for services provided to students. Find the full Federal Reimbursement for Medicaid Spending in Virginia School Districts report, here.

Data obtained from the Virginia Department of Medical Assistances Services (VDMAS).

Reflects total federal reimbursements minus VDMAS fee for both administrative and direct expenditures, not state match reimbursements. Administrative expenditures represent expenditures for the 2015-16 school year. Direct expenditures reflect expenditures for services related to special education individual education plans (IEPs) for the 2014-15 school year as there is an 18-month lag time in reporting at the state level.

School divisions not listed did not receive federal reimbursements for administrative expenditures for the 2015-16 school year or for direct expenditures in the 2014-15 school year, however they may have filed for federal reimbursements in other school years or students were provided services by out-of-school Medicaid providers.

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[1] School divisions not listed did not receive federal reimbursements for administrative expenditures for the 2015-16 school year or for direct expenditures in the 2014-15 school year, however they may have filed for federal reimbursements in other school years or students were provided services by out-of-school Medicaid providers.