ICYMI: Medicaid expands health and hope

Key quote: “Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently pushed our state legislature to expand Medicaid, and the House of Delegates rejected it. This would have allowed about 400,000 Virginians to obtain some form of medical insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The governor’s efforts have failed before, so why did he try again? The answer is simple: It was the right thing to do.”

Medicaid expands health and hope

Richmond Times-Dispatch
By Ike Koziol, M.D.
April 11, 2017

Medicaid expands health and hope

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently pushed our state legislature to expand Medicaid, and the House of Delegates rejected it. This would have allowed about 400,000 Virginians to obtain some form of medical insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The governor’s efforts have failed before, so why did he try again? The answer is simple: It was the right thing to do.

I recently returned from Wise County, where some of my colleagues and I work at a free clinic. Medicaid expansion would have helped about 40,000 people in that devastatingly poor part of Virginia. The coal mines are nearly all gone and it is not likely that many will open — even with the Trump promises. The people in the area suffer from poor nutrition and chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.

One of the most devastating problems they have is a lack of hope. There is no lifeline for this population. At a minimum, Medicaid expansion and some health-care coverage would have helped. Many cannot move away since they cannot afford it — and with barely a high school education, where would they find work?

Our hosts in Wise have urged me to visit Dickinson County, where the conditions are even worse. Both of these counties border Kentucky. The free-clinic folks used to see patients that came across the state line for free medical care. That stopped when Kentucky did the right thing and expanded Medicaid.

The mark of a civilized society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. Most of the people in Virginia are civilized, but I cannot say the same for our legislature.

Ike Koziol, M.D.