Virginia GOP Not Blinking in Medicaid Showdown

Virginia Republicans were supposed to be squirming by now. For months, their opposition to expanding Medi­caid under the Affordable Care Act has put them at odds with some traditional allies in the business world.

 

Hospitals, the state chamber of commerce and corporate leaders have been calling, writing, visiting and buttonholing, pushing what they call “the business case” for expanding coverage to thousands of uninsured under the health-care law, with the federal government promising to pay most of the cost. Gov. Terry McAuliffe and other Democrats who favor expansion have been betting on that pressure to sway Republicans, particularly in rural areas where hospitals are often the largest employer and are ­eager for the financial girding that the coverage expansion would provide.

 

But the hard sell has flopped, at least so far. Just one legislator has budged on Medicaid since the year began, and that was an expansion supporter who backed off a bit.

 

Republicans in this once reliably red state can ill afford to lose friends as the party seeks to rebuild a brand that lost back-to-back presidential elections and all three statewide elected offices last fall.

 

But in this case, a wide coalition of Republicans — state, national, moderate, conservative — sees a path forward in the Medi­caid fight, even as it pits them against some longtime friends.

 

The GOP’s strategy in Virginia is an expression of the anti-Obamacare rallying cry the party is deploying nationwide, one that in March helped Republicans win a special congressional election in a swing district near Tampa. The party believes the Affordable Care Act, with its disastrous rollout and persistent problems, will be its greatest weapon in the fall midterm elections. Ed Gillespie, the GOP front-runner to challenge Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), has focused his campaign on Warner’s support for the law.

 

“It’s absolutely very potent,” said Michael Short, spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “We feel absolutely it’s very much a winning issue.”

 

That may be true in the short term; even some Democrats think Republicans have the upper hand in the expansion debate, and they are wondering with increasing urgency what Mc­Auliffe’s exit strategy will be in the showdown, which could shutter state government if it is not resolved before July 1.