Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) hedged Thursday when asked whether Virginia would take part in the Medicaid expansion that was partially struck down by the Supreme Court.
“Well, our state is eventually gonna follow the law, but we’ll see what the law might be next January” McDonnell said, adding that Americans are “stuck” with the law “at least until we see if we have a new Senate and a new president.”
McDonnell, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that Medicaid mandates are a “hardship” on states. The court’s ruling on the Medicaid provision left open the possibility that some states might not participate in the program’s expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
In his interview with Andrea Mitchell, McDonnell said the result for Virginia of the Supreme Court’s decision is “2.2 billion dollars of unfunded mandate in Medicaid expansion over the next decade.”
The Supreme Court struck down a part of the Medicaid provision that would have eliminated all Medicaid funding for states which did not participate in the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Instead, the court said only the federal funds available under the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid could be withheld.
