MEDICAID EXPANSION IS VITAL TO VIRGINIA'S RURAL HOSPITALS

The future of rural hospitals in Virginia hangs in the balance in the upcoming debate over Medicaid expansion. As a result of the large population of uninsured and low-income residents in Virginia's countryside, rural hospitals rely heavily on the Medicaid program for financial assistance. If Virginia representatives are unable to expand Medicaid it will most certainly put Virginia's rural, low-income population in jeopardy.

According to the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program (NCRHRP), over 80 of the nations rural hospitals have shut down between January 2010 and July 2017. Beth O'Connor from the Virginia Rural Health Association points out, "Two-thirds of those are in states that have not expanded Medicaid. So while Medicaid expansion may not be the magic wand, it's certainly a big piece of the puzzle for those small rural facilities." Despite the fact that rural communities usually oppose Medicaid expansion, O'Connor believes that supporting it would serve to ensure the survival of these important medical providers.

Given the circumstances, Quentin Kidd, Dean of the College of Social Sciences at Christopher Newport University, believes that the opposition to expansion is about to shift. To him, the fact that Terry Kilgore, House Republican representing the southwest corner of VA, advocates expansion is a sign that the Republican Senate will probably do the same. Kidd states, "it wouldn't surprise me if a good number of them were rural senators because they all know that at the end of the day the dollars and cents are going to be meaningful to their rural hospitals and they need those rural hospitals to stay open."

Rural hospitals anxiously await April 11, when Virginia lawmakers will reconvene in a special session to attend to the state's budget plan and make a decision on Medicaid expansion. Currently, there have been no further changes of position from Senate Republicans on Medicaid expansion.

Learn more here.