The Virginia Senate decided it needs another week to choke down a deal that would, over the objections of Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City, expand Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of low-income Virginians. But it appears Medicaid expansion is a question of when, not if.
The compromise worked out by Sen. Emmett Hanger and Del. Chris Jones proposes putting any greater-than-expected revenues into the state's rainy-day fund, with a goal of saving near $1 billion in the next two years, The Associated Press reported.
State workers would get a 2 percent across-the-board raise, and a 2 percent merit-pay increase. Teachers would get a 3 percent increase.
The plan also includes a new tax on hospitals to pay the state's share of Medicaid expansion, something Hanger had previously expressed reservations about.
Norment, who has led opposition to health coverage for needy Virginians using tax dollars Virginia has already sent to the federal government, finally was out-maneuvered and out-numbered by proponents of Medicaid expansion. Still, he’s planning to moan and delay as long as possible, perhaps looking for a way out of the predicament in which he now finds himself.
His delay tactics earned him boos from visitors to the Senate gallery on Tuesday, as well as criticism from Democrats and Gov. Ralph Northam.
A calm voice in the center of the storm belonged to our own Sen. Hanger, R-Mount Sidney. He favored Medicaid expansion long before this session and has argued for it on moral and fiscal grounds. He personifies a compassionate side and practical side of the Republican Party that’s been too often missing from Richmond debates. He’s preached the wisdom of repatriating Virginia tax payments sent to the federal government and using them to provide health care that will help people and boost local economies in Virginia.
On Tuesday, rather than spike the football, a gracious Hanger agreed to give Norment a week, something the majority leader claimed he needed to read the entire budget bill, most of which was locked in to its final form months ago.
No doubt, Norment and his cohorts are alternately trying to figure out how they got themselves in this mess, how they can escape it and, if Medicaid is expanded, how they can straighten their bow ties and spin the decision to their own benefit.
Good luck. They’ve hemmed and hawed and delayed for much too long while poor, working Virginians who are stuck in low-paying jobs have suffered without adequate health care. All of us have suffered in a flawed system where those with insurance were overcharged for care that the commonwealth could have, but chose not to, provide with federal funds.
We hopeful this stalemate will finally end this epic General Assembly session, yielding a stronger, balanced budget and 400,000 more people with access to health care.
Our View represents the opinion of our Editorial Board: David Fritz, executive editor, and William Ramsey, news director.