“We need to know that Medicaid will be there.”
Democratic candidate Shannon Taylor held a roundtable on Sept. 14 to contrast her positions on healthcare policy with those of her opponent in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District race, Republican US Rep. Rob Wittman.
Taylor was joined by a 1st District resident, a member of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Virginia 512, and the executive director of the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy PAC.
The focus of the roundtable, held at the Glen Allen Branch Library off Staples Mill Road in Henrico, was the difficulty of navigating America’s broken healthcare system and Wittman’s role in making it worse, according to Taylor’s campaign.
Catherine Rey, who lives in the 1st District in Chesterfield, has two sons with intellectual and physical disabilities. She said Medicaid has provided critical support in managing their care, and she is worried how Medicaid cuts and policy changes supported by Republicans like Wittman threaten the care she provides her children.
“We need to know that Medicaid will be there,” Rey said. “That we will have services that we can rely on as we plan for their future and our future as a family.”
Taylor pledged to support restoring federal healthcare funding cuts enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Wittman supported and called for restoring the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that Republicans allowed to expire.
The expiration of ACA tax credits has led to thousands of Virginians losing coverage, while Medicaid funding cuts have raised the prospect of hospitals closing in Virginia.
In the debate leading up to the passage of the legislation, Wittman joined other Republicans staring down tough re-election fights in urging their party’s leaders to protect Medicaid.
“We cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations,” they wrote in a letter to Republican House leaders.
Taylor attacked Wittman for understanding the importance of protecting Medicaid and then supporting the One Big Beautiful Bill that cuts federal funding for Medicaid by $1 trillion over 10 years and reduces access to the program.
”There’s this continuing harm that’s happening from our elected leaders coming out of DC,” Taylor said.
