Virginia General Assembly approves Medicaid expansion to 400,000 residents

[proboardslol]

Virginia lawmakers expand Medicaid to 400,000, after years of GO..

RICHMOND — The Virginia legislature voted Wednesday to make government
health insurance available to 400,000 low-income residents, overcoming five
years of GOP resistance. The decision marks a leftward shift in the legislature
and an enormous win for Gov. Ralph Northam (D), the pediatrician who ran on
expanding access to health care.

Virginia will join 32 other states and the District in expanding Medicaid coverage.
The measure is expected to take effect Jan. 1.

“This is not just about helping this group of people,” said Sen. Frank Wagner
(Virginia Beach), one of four Republicans in the Senate who split from their
party to join Democrats and pass the measure by a vote of 23 to 17. “This is
about getting out there and helping to bend the cost of health care for every
Virginian. . . . It is the number one issue on our voters’ minds. By golly, it ought to
be the number one issue on the General Assembly’s mind.”

Another Republican who broke ranks, Sen. Ben Chafin (Russell), is a lawyer and
a cattle farmer from a rural district where health care is sorely lacking.

“I came to the conclusion that ‘no’ just wasn’t the answer anymore, that doing
nothing about the medical conditions, the state of health care in my district, just
wasn’t the answer any longer,” he said.

Emphasis mine

The republicans have a 1 seat majority in both the house and senate in VA and the state has been leaning further and further blue for a long time now (mostly due to growing populations in Northern VA, Richmond, and VA Beach). I think the Republicans have seen the writing on the wall and are adjusting their party's image in the voters' eyes.