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Letter: Medicaid shouldn’t be partisan issue

Editor, Gazette-Journal:

In 2014, I wrote to the Gazette-Journal and encouraged the Virginia General Assembly to expand Medicaid so that Virginia would not allow tax dollars paid by Virginia individuals and corporations to be used for Medicaid expansion in other states.

Politifact estimated in 2014 that Virginia would lose $3.5 million every day if Medicaid was not expanded. Since I last wrote, Virginia has passed up over $3.8 billion. This money would not only serve our neediest patients, it would be a huge economic driver for the health care industry in Virginia. Hospitals and physicians are often one of the largest employers in rural Virginia. Instead, the states that expanded Medicaid are receiving the tax dollars that Virginians paid.
It is quite clear that Congress is not going to repeal “Obamacare.” Even the proposals that failed favored those states that have already expanded Medicaid.
No matter who wins this next election, Medicaid expansion should no longer...

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