Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill into law Thursday that will allow more people to sign up for healthcare coverage paid for by the Medicaid program.
Northam, a Democrat, campaigned on the promise of expanding Medicaid in the commonwealth, which is projected to move 400,000 low-income residents onto the program. The provision, created under Obamacare, will allow people who make less than roughly $16,643 a year to enroll in Medicaid, a health insurance program paid for by the state and federal government. Residents will be allowed to start signing up for the program on Jan. 1, 2019.
“As a doctor and a public servant, I believe making sure all Virginians have the access to the care they need to be healthy and productive is both a moral and economic imperative,” Northam said when signing the bill, according to WSET. “This budget will empower nearly 400,000 Virginians with access to health insurance by expanding Medicaid, without crowding out other general fund spending priorities.”
Lawmakers arrived at a compromise on Medicaid and on other parts of spending in part by setting a tax on hospitals.
Under Obamacare, the federal government paid for all of the cost of Medicaid expansion in states beginning in 2014, but this support will fall to 90 percent of costs by 2020. In some states, that will mean billions of dollars in additional spending. Several other states place taxes on hospitals or health insurers to fund the increase.
All states were slated to expand Medicaid under the way Obamacare was originally written, but a Supreme Court decision made the provision optional for states. Other than Virginia, D.C. and 32 states have moved to expand Medicaid.
