The Virginia State Corporation Commission estimated that 100,000 Virginians have lost health insurance coverage as a result of higher premiums.
In a campaign ad released this month, Republican US Rep. Jen Kiggans of Hampton Roads jogs down a residential street, touting her record on healthcare, as a Politico headline flashes.
“Kiggans Sticking Her Neck Out For Healthcare” the headline reads.
The headline references an article about Kiggans’ support last year for extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance subsidies before they expired on Dec. 31, a position that put her out of step at the time with Republican Party leadership.
During last year’s debate over the subsidies, it was widely understood that allowing them to expire would make healthcare more expensive and out of reach for millions of Americans. Kiggans, a nurse practitioner and US Navy veteran, seemed to understand this, too.
“In six weeks or so, people will get a notice that their health care premiums are going to go up by thousands of dollars,” Kiggans said in the Politico story. “And at the end of the year … for people that either have this type of insurance and work in small businesses, are self-employed, you know, I worry about their access to health care.”
Kiggans ultimately voted for legislation that allowed the subsidies to expire. The Virginia State Corporation Commission estimated that 100,000 Virginians have lost health insurance coverage as a result of higher premiums. State figures show that so far this year 94,000 fewer Virginians are enrolled in ACA insurance, according to a Virginia Mercury report.
Healthcare, as Kiggans’ ad indicates, is going to be a top issue in her reelection fight against Democrat Elaine Luria, a former congressmember and US Navy veteran looking to win her seat back in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.
Kiggans also supported the Medicaid cuts that were part of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or HR 1. In Virginia, 1.8 million people are enrolled in Medicaid but over 300,000 are projected to lose their coverage because of the One Big Beautiful Bill, according to the governor’s office.
The Medicaid cuts have raised fears that rural hospitals could close—including the Bon Secours Southampton Medical Center in Franklin in a rural part of Kiggans’ district.
“If you go to Franklin, I mean, the first thing on everybody’s mind is, is the hospital going to close?” Luria said in an interview. “I did a roundtable with people in Franklin to hear about these issues, and it’s really like the first thing that everyone brought up.”
Luria said if she’s elected, she would support reversing the Medicaid cuts and re-establishing the ACA subsidies.
“The more people who are not covered, the more people who are uninsured, even people who are on private insurance—all of their premiums are just going to keep going up as more people have to turn to emergency care as their only source of healthcare,” Luria said.
Kiggans has touted the Trump administration’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) making a $122 million investment in Virginia. But some worry that won’t be enough to offset the cuts and costs of Republican cuts to federal healthcare policy.
“Donald Trump and Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill cut up to $35 billion in funding from Virginia hospitals,” US Rep. Don Beyer of Northern Virginia said on social media. “Now they want Virginians to believe $122 million will offset the impacts of these massive healthcare cuts. It won’t.”
Natasha Sriraman, a pediatrician in Norfolk with the Committee to Protect Healthcare, said Medicaid is healthcare for the most vulnerable: children, mothers, veterans, low-income seniors, and people with disabilities.
“What makes this particularly frustrating is that Rep. Kiggans should really know better,” Sriraman said on an Aug. 27 press call. “She has cared for patients. She has worked in healthcare. She should understand that insurance coverage is not a luxury.”
Instead of responding to the healthcare affordability crisis by working to expand healthcare access, negotiating to protect coverage, and looking for ways to lower patients’ costs, Kiggans “has helped create this crisis,” Sriraman said.
Healthcare is expensive for many, and forgoing it only makes it more expensive, Sriraman said. Sriraman said she often hears of children who cannot afford asthma inhalers and then have asthma attacks that send them to the emergency room.
“This is why Mrs. Kiggans’ healthcare record is so alarming,” Sriraman said. “She voted for HR1, legislation that actually cuts federal Medicaid spending and creates new barriers to coverage.”
Kiggans did not respond to a request for comment.
