May 31, 2018 - Health

Virginia will expand Medicaid

Sam Baker

Photo: Tracy A. Woodward/The Washington Post via Getty Images

After fighting it for four years, Virginia will soon adopt the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. Both chambers of the state legislature passed a budget bill last night that includes the expansion, which Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to sign.

Why it matters: Virginia is a big state — the expansion could cover as many as 400,000 people. And it's a reminder that, even after years of exhausting political fights, health care is still a salient issue: Medicaid expansion was a key part of Northam's campaign and helped propel Democrats' gains in the statehouse.

The catch: The plan Virginia lawmakers approved yesterday would include work requirements and premiums, similar to the restrictions other states have recently adopted.

Those rules could shave almost 20% off the number of people covered by the expansion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Yes, but: Other states' work requirements have stirred more controversy because those states had already expanded, and are now seeking to trim their rolls.

An expansion with work requirements seems to be the best deal Democrats are going to get in Virginia, and that still shakes out to cover hundreds of thousands of uninsured people.

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Virginia will expand Medicaid

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