I am hoping the Virginia legislature will pass and advocate for Medicaid expansion.

As a person who worked for years without insurance, to me this makes the most sense to get some of our citizens access to needed health care.

In my own situation, a former employer just could not afford the premiums for me because of pre-existing conditions. When I priced insurance on my own, the cheapest policy would have cost two‑thirds of my monthly work income. That decision is, do you eat or have insurance?

I paid my health bills as I went along and chose to forgo many health visits when I shouldn’t have, which ended up costing more in the long run. A simple untreated illness turned serious. I relied on low-income programs for large hospital bills, which just passed the cost on to others.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t working, nor that I didn’t want to pay for my insurance or health care. I just could not afford it. I know many Virginians are having these issues still.

I do not see anything wrong for the state of Virginia with this Medicaid expansion. It’s going to create more jobs, get possibly 400,000 more people access to health care benefits, and cost less to the state than if we did not expand.

But my main reason is it is morally right. Some of our residents are actually dying because they don’t go to the doctor when they should because of lack of insurance. To deny Virginians this is wrong. I don’t think Jesus considered cost when healing, and neither should we.

Weather Journal

15 hours ago