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Suspect held after woman set on fire in NY subway car dies; Trump threatens to take back Panama Canal over 'ridiculous' fees; A year of growth for juvenile diversion programs in SD; The ups and downs of combating rural grocery deserts in ND; Report: AZ one of eight Western states that could improve conservation policies.

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Congress passes a last-minute budget stopgap. Trump's second-term tariffs could harm farmers, and future budget cuts could reduce much-needed federal programs.

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Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

Study: Medicaid Coverage For Virginia Parents Would Help Children

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Monday, January 11, 2016   

RICHMOND, Va. - By not expanding Medicaid to cover working poor adults, Virginia also is shortchanging thousands of children, according to a new study.

Georgetown researchers looked at families in the coverage gap, making too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford insurance on the federal exchange. They found a third of the adults are parents with dependent children, and nearly two thirds of those parents work outside the home.

Widow Melyssa Dove of Culpepper says her lack of insurance makes the financial situation for her and her three young sons particularly fragile. She says she ended up with a big emergency-room bill when she got sick last summer.

"That bill is unresolved," says Dove. "I've gone through the hospital system trying to get help, and so it's very frustrating. It's been very frustrating dealing with the system."

According to the study, children can be all but locked out of the health-care system if their parents don't have insurance and getting their parents insured can improve the children's health care and quality of life.

In much of the country, the portion of children with access to the health-care system has increased sharply since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. But while Virginia was once a leader in that, the portion in the state actually has fallen a little. Ashley Everette is a policy analyst with Voices for Virginia¹s Children.

"While many other states saw decreases in the rate of uninsured kids, Virginia's rate has worsened," says Everette. "We also know when parents are uninsured, their ability to care for their kids and provide financially can be compromised."

Currently about 100,000 Virginia children lack health insurance. Medicaid expansion would cover 400,000 adults, and likely bring thousands of the children into the system as well.

For Dove, insurance issues make it harder for her while she finishes her nursing degree. She says some years ago she survived thyroid cancer, but now she can barely afford the thyroid medicine she needs let alone tests her doctors say she should have.

"Am I going to have the scans and rack up a $6,000 hospital bill? Or am I just going to hope I'm OK," she says. "You cross your fingers and say, 'I hope I don't get sick.'"

Republicans in the General Assembly refuse the Medicaid expansion offered under the Affordable Care Act, arguing Medicaid should be reformed first.


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