Virginia families depend on Medicaid. It covers our kids, our elderly parents in nursing homes, people with disabilities, and working adults who don't have other options. When that system is threatened, real people lose access to real care — and that matters to all of us, regardless of party.
Here's what's happening: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a rule that would cut Virginia's Medicaid funding by $31 billion over the next decade, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. That's not a rounding error — that's hospitals closing wings, nursing homes losing staff, and families getting turned away. What makes this especially alarming is that these cuts go beyond what Congress even authorized in the federal reconciliation law passed last summer. Federal agencies are now reaching further than Congress intended, and Virginia is on the hook for the difference. Either we make up that funding ourselves, or we cut people off. Neither option is acceptable.
Virginia needs its legislators to push back loudly and clearly. I'm asking you to use every tool available — coordinate with the Governor's office, work with our congressional delegation, and use Virginia's budget process — to protect Medicaid funding and make clear that unilateral federal agency cuts beyond what Congress authorized will not be absorbed on the backs of Virginia families.
Please go on record opposing these cuts and fight to protect the Medicaid funding Virginia families have earned and depend on.
