CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – While the fight over how to tax data centers and framework for Virginia’s retail cannabis market dominated the headlines, members of the Albemarle County and Charlottesville delegation to the General Assembly told Cville Right Now it’s another item that could have the biggest impact on Virginians.

The budget passed by the GA and awaiting amendments from Gov. Abigail Spanberger includes funds earmarked to offset federal cuts to Medicaid and other potential healthcare concerns.

“We’re responding to what’s happening in Washington,” Del. Amy Laufer said. “We’re trying to make sure that Virginia is prepared for it. And I don’t think we’re talking enough about (that).”

Laufer said the budget the GA passed includes $1 billion in reserves “for contingency funding, to help respond to the federal funding reductions.”

It also includes $350 million for Medicaid reserve funds, to help Virginians who have seen their premiums go up, and $200 million to replenish the Commonwealth’s health insurance fund.

Del. Katrina Callsen said the funding includes supporting prenatal and postpartum care.

“That’s probably one of the biggest priorities, just making sure that people don’t lose their health insurance,” Callsen said. “There’s so much kind of chaos in D.C. and it’s hard to anticipate. So, I know that we’re trying to be really prudent stewards of our money and make sure that we’re protecting people’s health insurance.”

The GA passed the budget on Monday with the House of Delegates voting 71-22 for it and the Senate approving it, 23-16. Gov. Spanberger has told legislators to expect her amendments by Friday at midnight, Sen. Creigh Deeds told Cville Right Now. The budget must be signed before July 1 to avoid a government shutdown.

The impacts of the decision of the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress to allow the Affordable Care Act credits to expire and the cuts to Medicaid under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act were among the biggest issues in last November’s election, when Spanberger, Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi and Attorney General Jay Jones swept statewide races and Democrats picked up an additional 13 seats in the House of Delegates. 

Laufer noted that rural healthcare is particularly at risk because of the federal cuts.

“There’s about 36 rural hospitals that are on the line for being closed,” Laufer said. “And this is an ongoing threat that’s from the federal government. And Virginia is responding to ensuring that folks can maintain their healthcare.”

Callsen and Deeds said the full impact of the federal cuts have not been felt yet.

“We have somewhere north of 40,000 people who have lost insurance because of (the) subsidies expired because of the federal government, the Congress let them expire at the end of the year,” Deeds said. “The second thing is, the Medicaid work requirements and cuts coming next year, we know that more people are going to be without insurance. So, we’re trying to chunk money away. There’s no way in the world we can make up, dollar for dollar, the federal cuts. But we can do the best we can to protect the most vulnerable, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Callsen said that, while the budget provides a safety net for Virginians for two years, nothing is guaranteed beyond that.

“We’re good for these two years, but it’s not safe to say that it will always be,” Callsen said. “It takes work. It’s also why we’re talking about all these ways for revenue, including the data centers, which was what was holding up the budget negotiations. It’s a lot, and I know, if the state were to fully pick up the bill, it would be problematic in the future. But we were able to do it for at least the next two years.”