Leaders from the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate were joined by the Virginia Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business at a news conference today to highlight the negative effects of ObamaCare’s Medicaid Expansion on Virginia’s economy and small business owners.
Speaker William J. Howell, House Majority Leader Kirk Cox, other members of House Republican Leadership were joined by Nicole Riley, state director of the Virginia chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, who represents nearly 5,500 independent and small businesses across the Commonwealth.
“ObamaCare has been a trainwreck for Virginia business, raising premiums and leading to cancelled health plans for employers big and small,” said Speaker Howell. “Medicaid expansion would be no different. Virginia already receives nearly twice as much in federal funds as it pays in federal taxes. Expansion would only increase Virginia’s over-reliance on borrowed money from Washington. Medicaid has grown 1600% over the last 30 years and continues to grow at an unsustainable rate, threatening to crowd out other key services like K-12 and higher education, which will reduce Virginia’s long-term competitiveness. No business owner would ever consider expanding such a broken system.”
“Our members have seen first-hand the impact of ObamaCare on their businesses from canceled health plans to double digit increases their premiums,” said Nicole Riley, State Director of the NFIB. “With Washington facing more than $17 trillion in debt, chances are they’ll fail to keep their promise to pay for Medicaid expansion, leaving state job creators and taxpayers on the hook to pay the bill. That’s why so many members of the NFIB oppose expansion.”
NFIB is Virginia’s largest small-business association, representing nearly 5,500 small and independent businesses across the commonwealth.
“There is no business case for Medicaid expansion,” said House Majority Leader Kirk Cox. “Medicaid expansion is a key part of President Obama’s health care reform law, which the CBO estimates could cost 2.5 million workers nationwide by 2024. Anyone making the business case for Medicaid expansion is trying to make the business case for Obamacare, and that’s simply not possible.
