Virginia could lose more than $314 million from its general fund budget if the new Congress and president make good on their promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to estimates by the state’s Medicaid director.
Cynthia B. “Cindi” Jones, director of the Department of Medical Assistance Services, told a Senate Finance subcommittee on Monday that the estimated losses — $123.2 million in the next fiscal year and $191.2 million in the budget year that begins in mid-2018 — reflect an outright repeal of the health care law, without knowing what would replace it.
The projections primarily reflect losses in the state’s share of pharmacy rebates under the managed care program that Virginia is moving aggressively to reshape, as well as the loss of federal matching funds for the state’s child health insurance program and the reversal of reductions in indigent care.
