Virginia Speaker Don Scott speaking earlier today, on a call with Protect Our Care Virginia, “to discuss Protect Our Care’s new report detailing the damage GOP cuts to Medicaid are doing to both the state budget and to Virginia families’ access to care,” had the following to say:
“We have more work to do mainly because of the big ugly bill that Republicans in Congress passed to set us backwards…with healthcare. MAGA has not been good for rural healthcare in Virginia. MAGA has not been good for healthcare, period…We took one step forward and then they came back and took us two steps back before we can even get everything implemented. And let’s be clear about what that means for Virginia. Nearly $29 billion cut from Virginia’s Medicaid program over the next decade. More than 260,000 Virginians projected to lose their health insurance. 16 hospitals at risk of closing. And some have already gone. The very hospitals and health systems we fought so hard to protect. Not because Virginia failed, not because our communities failed, but because politicians in Washington decided tax breaks for billionaires mattered more than keeping hospitals open in Southside, in Southwest Virginia, Shenandoah Valley, and across rural communities in this Commonwealth, as well as communities like mine here in Portsmouth. But here in Virginia, we did not sit on our hands. The House introduced a budget that funds Medicaid and CHIP forecast, a net increase of $2.4 billion. We created a $200 million federal unanticipated contingency fund because we knew with this current president giving him and his family a pass in IRS and a billion dollar slush fund, we knew more chaos was coming from Washington. We invested nearly 80 million in premium assistance for Virginia’s losing federal tax credits, and we put another 10 million into free clinics. Because when hospitals close, those clinics become the last line of defense, unfortunately. Now, that is all being worked out in our budget negotiations now. But even with all of that, it still may not be enough to fully undo the damage, the harms that this Republican Congress has ravaged on our communities. That’s the hard truth. You can build a road map. You can prepare. You can do the responsible thing as we’ve tried to do, but none of it matters when somebody in Washington comes along and blows up the road. And the people who made these decisions, they need to be held accountable. Jen Kiggans, [John] McGuire, they need to be held accountable for every hospital that closes, every family that loses coverage, and every Virginian forced to pay the price for their recklessness because healthcare should not depend on your zip code and no Virginian should be left behind simply because they live in a rural community, or in any community in Virginia for that matter.”
House Health and Human Services Committee Chair, Del. Rodney Willett added:
“Now with the big ugly bill, the lights are out and and we’re actually losing hospitals…The [big ugly bill’s] work requirements is daunting and and it’s clear there’s one purpose to those requirements and that is to get people off of off of Medicaid and then to give uh the savings back to uh to the wealthy. That’s the formula and and they’re not hiding. We’ll give them credit for their honesty. They said yes, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. We want to take people off Medicaid, use that savings to fund a tax break for the wealthy and that’s exactly what’s what’s happening. It’s a trillion dollar hole…this is a systemic impact so what happens is you take people off of Medicaid. We’ve also had cuts to the Affordable Care Act subsidy. But you take people off that health coverage they’ve got a couple options then: one is to go to the emergency department and emergency departments are already overwhelmed; the other is to go to the free clinics, well the free clinics are projecting as many or maybe more than 10,000 additional patients coming on board if they lose uh their Medicaid coverage. That’s just daunting And to the Speaker’s point, we have put funding into the budget to try to make up some of that deficit. But when you talk about upwards of 260,000 Virginiaians being affected, that’s a multi-billion-dollar impact. And as much as we want to try to close that gap on an ongoing basis, that’s daunting. So again, this is not an accident that we got to where we are. It was a choice made by this Republican administration. It was a choice to to prioritize tax breaks for billionaires over health care for working families. And now that’s a choice whose consequences are going to be felt in rural communities across Virginia every single day. “
Also from Speaker Don Scott, in response to a question about Gov. Spanberger’s vetoes, including of a bill that would establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board:
“I think the governor’s vetos broadly, obviously across the board, we the legislature put in a lot of work in those bills, sending those bills to her desk. It’s always her prerogative. We have three co-equal branches of government for a reason. There is nothing that she has done that I can say I’m surprised by. I can say that there are a couple that I’m disappointed by, but I’m not despair. I think those issues can continue to be worked on and I think there are ways that we can continue to move forward on those issues. That’s my overall view of that. When you think about it, I think people need to remember this. She signed or will sign as of today of what I’m hearing 1,132 bills. Okay? So, a lot of things that we got done and passed through the governor signed and I don’t want to spend a lot of energy focusing on the hole, I’d much rather talk about the donut, which is what we got done this session. Now, regarding the prescription affordability drug, that was a bipartisan piece of legislation that we worked really, really hard to get Republicans to come on board with us on as we continue to try to lower prescription drug costs. We put caps on insulin. We did we made prescription drugs more transparent. We’ve done a lot this session to work on affordability. That’s one that I’m disappointed in, but I’m not, like I said, I’m not despondent. I think that’s something that we’ll continue to work on and work in conjunction with the governor to get some of this issue across the the finish line. And I will remind people again, she signed 1,132 bills. That didn’t happen when Glenn Youngkin was governor. “
Also, in response to a question about communication between Gov. Spanberger’s office and the General Assembly, Speaker Scott said:
“I spoke to the governor yesterday. I think some of the things that we will continue to do is work on communication. I can only speak for the House. I don’t want to speak for the Senate. I think they…may have a very different viewpoint. But I think we have been communicating. I’m the type, you know, I just think these things are to be expected. We have a very strong leader in the governor, very strong leader in in the Senate, and it…doesn’t surprise me that we have different points of view on some important issues. And so I think overall communication is going about as well as can be expected. And I think when you’re in these difficult policy choices, sometimes the best thing to do sometimes is to continue to try to push forward. Regarding the expanded healthcare insurance, I think we’re going to get it done. I feel confident. Delegate Willett is leading the way as the chair of health and human services committee. I feel very confident that he’s going to be able to…make sure that we get as many people covered as possible. That is what we’re trying to do. We are trying to make up for the impact that the big beautiful or big bullshit bill had on our communities. And I think we have to continue to call out MAGA Republicans. I don’t think it’s wise for Democrats to fight with one another at a time when we have a president that has run amok in our economy, sending our kids to war in a war of choice that nobody understands why we’re there. And at the same time every time he moves, he’s pulling money from the American taxpayer and putting it in his pocket and his family’s pocket. And so I think we need to stay focused on the main thing with that, and that Democrats here in Virginia, we’re focusing on making sure that we put money in people’s pockets here, that we make things more affordable, healthcare being one of them, housing, keep our communities safe, making sure that we fund our education system. Those are the things that we’ll focus on, not on a tit for tat and who’s talking to who with the governor or not. These these issues are too important for us to get caught up in personalities and styles when people are counting on us to deliver.”
Press release from PRotect Our Care:
Speaker Don Scott and Chair Rodney Willett Join Protect Our Care Virginia to Discuss Devastating Impacts of GOP Medicaid Cuts on State Budget |
|
RICHMOND, Va. — Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott and Chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee Rodney Willett today joined Protect Our Care Virginia in a virtual press event to discuss Protect Our Care’s new report detailing the damage GOP cuts to Medicaid are doing to both the state budget and to Virginia families’ access to care.
Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have made the largest health care cuts in history, resulting in a $29 billion cut from the state Medicaid budget over the next decade. Additionally, the General Assembly has currently budgeted $134 million over the biennium to account for the cost of implementing new work reporting requirements. Speakers will discuss the catastrophic impacts of these cuts on Virginians and the American health care system.
Medicaid is the largest health insurance provider in the country, covering over 68 million Americans, including 1.8 million Virginians. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress’ Big Ugly Bill ripped coverage from more than 15 million people, putting hospitals, clinics, and providers at risk of closing or slashing services, and raising premiums and costs for millions more.
Protect Our Care’s report highlights that 260,000 Virginians are projected to become uninsured due to the Medicaid cuts, while The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis estimates that by 2034, 188,000 people could have their coverage taken away due to the new work reporting requirements alone. That number represents almost a third of all adults currently accessing coverage through Medicaid expansion in Virginia.
“Nearly $29 billion cut from Virginia’s Medicaid program over the next decade. More than 260,000 Virginians projected to lose their health insurance. Sixteen hospitals at risk of closing — or already gone,” said Speaker Scott. “Not because Virginia failed. Not because our communities failed. But because politicians in Washington decided tax breaks for billionaires mattered more than keeping hospitals open in Southside, in Southwest Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, and across rural communities in this Commonwealth.”
“No state budget can fully backfill a trillion-dollar hole deliberately created by Congress,” said Chair Willett. “The pending budget increases funding for our free clinics which expect to be overwhelmed with 10,000 + additional patients as they lose Medicaid coverage. We also have funding to partially restore the ACA health exchange subsidies that the Republican-led Congress cut. More than 100,000 Virginians are losing health coverage because of that cut.”
“These changes to Medicaid are expected to take away health coverage from 260,000 people,” said Rodrigo Soto, Legislative and Campaigns Director at The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis. “This massive health care cut was passed by Congressional Republicans in order to fund massive tax handouts to the ultra-wealthy. So while 260,000 of our community members lose their health care coverage, the top 1% in Virginia are expected to get an average tax cut of nearly $80,000.”
“Every Republican in Virginia’s congressional delegation — Kiggans, Wittman, McGuire, Griffith and Cline — voted for this bill that will take away Virginians’ health care and hurt our state budgets, all to fund tax breaks for the very wealthiest billionaires and corporations,” said Katie Baker, Virginia State Director of Protect Our Care. “These guys need to be held accountable, not only for taking away people’s health care, but also for the costs that they’re now forcing our state legislators to navigate as they work to finalize the state budget.”
