Virginia is one of the 20 states that has elected not to accept federal funding under the ACA to extend Medicaid coverage to parents and other low-income adults. Consequently, parents in Virginia are not eligible for Medicaid or premium tax credits if their incomes exceed approximately 45 percent of the poverty line (45 percent of poverty is $9,041 in annual income for a family of three in 2015) but remain below 100 percent of the poverty line ($20,090 in annual income for a family of three). As a result, there are nearly 230,000 Virginians (including childless adults) who fall into this coverage gap and as many as 400,000 adults excluded from Medicaid coverage due to Virginia’s refusal to accept the federal funds.
Key findings from this paper:
- Virginia’s General Assembly has chosen not to use federal funds available under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for extending Medicaid coverage. Virginia’s Governor continues to support use of Virginia’s share of federal money to cover as many as 400,000 uninsured adults.
- Virginia has large numbers of uninsured children and parents. Almost one third (29 percent) of people potentially eligible for coverage should Virginia close the gap are parents with dependent children residing in their home. Providing health coverage to Virginia’s parents would reduce children’s uninsurance rate and enhance families’ financial security. Experience from other states shows that an extremely effective way to reduce the uninsured rate for children is to extend coverage to parents so the entire family can get covered.
- Of those parents that could benefit from closing the coverage gap, over two-thirds (68 percent) are employed. Over half of all uninsured parents (54 percent) work in restaurants, retail, construction, or medical occupations.
