A Simple Explanation of Medicaid Expansion

Read the full report from Lynn R. Mitchell of Bearing Drift.

Here is a simple explanation of Medicaid expansion from radio host John Fredericks:

“I was for Medicaid expansion [during the General Assembly session]. You [Del. Chris Peace] and I were both opposed to it when it didn’t make any sense back in the day, and then when it made sense, when Washington Republicans were proposing the repeal and replace plan that would punish Virginia for not expanding Medicaid and reward all the Republican conservative red states for expanding it — like Arkansas and Indiana and et cetera — they were all going to get funded in perpetuity.

“[Virginia was] going to get a lower block grant so it simply didn’t make any sense anymore coupled with the fact that Medicaid expansion was not for people who were sitting on the dole. It was for working class Americans, Virginians, mainly benefitting those in southwest Virginia trying to work two jobs who fell in between the gap of who could qualify for Medicaid because of lower income but who couldn’t pay for their own insurance so were in the gap.

“Now we’re talking about a half million people who had the opportunity to be funded, and if we didn’t get the money, the money would have gone to California or NY or NJ. So the whole argument is ridiculous. That’s why I flipped because of that and I was in favor of it. So if that’s his [Scott Wyatt’s] only issue, that doesn’t make any sense.” -John Fredericks talking to Del. Chris Peace, John Fredericks Radio Show