The Virginia Senate is staking its hopes for avoiding vast cuts to health care on an uncertain infusion of Medicaid funds proposed by President Obama.
The state’s pool of money from the $787 billion stimulus package — which helped forestall a fiscal crisis last year — is slated to run out by 2012. Obama’s budget for the next fiscal year, however, includes a $25 billion provision that would expand the Medicaid portion of the stimulus for states.
The Virginia Senate isn’t going so far as to write the six-month extension of federal funds into the two-year budget they rolled out Sunday, stopping short of a risky move taken by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley in his proposed spending plan. But Senate leaders have detailed plans to use their $350 million share of federal funds to undo the diminished payments to health care providers and more stringent program eligibility.
In all, the Democrat-majority body is proposing to cut $334 million from health and human services, while the Republican-run House has suggested deeper reductions.
The effect of the legislature’s health care cuts “is going to be huge” said Lisa Specter-Dunaway, president and chief executive officer of the Comprehensive Health Investment Project, a nonprofit that helps low-income children and families gain access to health care.
The cuts would force a “significant loss of staff” and the possible closure of several programs, she said. Under the House plan, the organization stands to lose about 40 percent of its funding.
“We’re going to see the effect of this within 12 months in the emergency rooms and in babies being born less healthy, pregnant women not being able to access prenatal care, and in general a weaker health safety net,” said Specter-Dunaway. “Which means people put off care until it’s an emergency, and then they show up in an emergency room with conditions that are much more serious.”
The House and Senate are slated to officially approve their budgets by Thursday, after which leaders in each chamber will seek to forge a consensus spending plan by the scheduled mid-March adjournment.
