Nearly every conversation about the forthcoming biennial state budget includes mention of Medicaid expansion.  As part of his out-going budget, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe included the expansion of Medicaid authorized under the Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as “Obamacare”.)  Legislators who in previous sessions indicated they did not support Medicaid expansion have signaled they might be willing to accept expanding coverage if certain conditions were met.  VHCA-VCAL has not weighed in on the Medicaid expansion discussions since it addresses a younger population (ages 18-64) than our members generally serve.

Gov. McAuliffe had proposed funding Virginia’s share of the cost of the expansion through an assessment on net revenue of private acute care hospitals.  From the budgetary perspective, the expansion represents an estimated savings of approximately $344 million in state funds over the new biennium.  In the past, the proposed expansion efforts have failed in the General Assembly, requiring any savings assumed in the budget to be back-filled. 

We will continue to monitor this issue for any potential impact on reimbursement for nursing centers.