Virginia faith leaders respond to Assembly’s vow not to expand Medicaid coverage
RICHMOND – A half-dozen faith leaders who were among the nearly 300 who signed a letter asking Virginia’s General Assembly to close the health insurance coverage gap outlined their belief that doing so is a moral issue Wednesday.
A news conference sponsored by the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and Virginia Consumer Voices for Healthcare came just hours after Senate Finance Co-Chairman Emmett Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta) confirmed that his committee will not include Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s proposal to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Virginians in the two-year budget it will release on Sunday.
At the same podium moments before the faith leaders’ press conference, House speaker Del. William J. Howell (R-28th) said the Republican position is to provide “additional funding to free clinics around the state” instead of expanding Medicaid.
“Funding for more clinics is a woefully inadequate response to the crisis Virginians healthcare crisis,” Kim Bobo, the new Executive Director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, said in response.
Speaker after speaker urged lawmakers to see this question as their moral duty.
“When members of society-at-large are ill, our responsibility – not only of the medical profession but of all of us – expands to ensure that medical resources are available at an affordable cost to those who need them,” said Rabbi Martin Beifield of Congregation Beth Ahabah in downtown Richmond “This principle is embodied in the concept of tikkun olam – what we are obligated to do in order to repair the world in which we find ourselves.”
Dr. Imad Dimj with the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs said that the Islamic health care tradition is also “rooted in a commitment to promote human dignity for all people, and access to health care is a human basic right. We are here to appeal to our legislators to open their hearts to the need and the care of the citizen of our beloved Commonwealth.”
Jeff Caruso, founding Director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, framed the question as a “pro-life” issue, “because life itself is valuable – all life, every life: born and unborn, rich and poor, native-born and immigrant, insured and uninsured, incarcerated and not incarcerated, and at the beginning of life, the end of life, and everywhere in between. Our firm conviction is that healthcare should cover everyone and protect everyone.”
The Rev. Dr. Eli Burke, from the Baptist General Convention, echoed those sentiments. “We signed this letter to the legislators as an expression of our foundational belief that we must provide for those in need of care whenever it is in our power to do so. I say to our legislators, that it is in your power to relieve the distress and suffering of many families by closing the Medicaid coverage gap.”
The Rev. Charles Swadley, a retired United Methodist pastor and outgoing interim director of the Virginia Interfaith Center, mentioned his daughter being “burdened with the anxiety that she might not have healthcare insurance when she turns 26 and will no longer be on her parents’ health insurance plan.”
“What we need today is quality healthcare for the working poor, we need insurance, not more charity that creates dependency,” Swadley said.
As of the Presidents Day deadline, nearly 300 faith leaders had added their names to the letter calling upon the General Assembly to close the healthcare coverage gap. They represent a range of faiths and denominations from Roman Catholic to Jewish, Baptist to Unitarian Universalist.
The letter explains that healthcare coverage is a fundamental right of all human beings. An expansion would add about 400,000 Virginians who are currently without coverage. These members of our community often forego life- preserving care and are forced to rely on hospitals and free clinics for healthcare emergencies. The letter was delivered to every delegate and senator in Virginia.
Virginians in this coverage gap include low-income working adults, veterans, people with disabilities and those under 65 who are ineligible for Virginia’s very restrictive Medicaid program (rated as 48th worst in the country). Virginia loses more than $4.4 million per day by not closing the healthcare coverage gap. The faith community strongly supports expanding that coverage, as the number of signatories to the appeal shows. In a Christopher Newport University poll released this week, 61 percent of Virginians favored Medicaid expansion.
The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy will continue to urge legislators to support the Governor’s budget proposal on healthcare expansion.
###
Additional media contacts:
Kim Bobo, VICPP Executive Director: (773) 391-8844 or kim@virginiainterfaithcenter.org
Karen Cameron, VCV Director: (804) 514-8692 or Karen@vaconsumervoices.org