Dive Brief:
- The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, the leading proponent of Medicaid expansion during this year's state legislative session, spent more than $400,000 on lobbying from May 2013 to April 2014.
- Americans for Prosperity, a group that opposes Medicaid expansion and has ties to conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, spent $470,000-plus on lobbying over the same period, AP said.
- Both groups spent far more than they did a year earlier. The state hospital association spent $93,000 and Americans for Prosperity spent $29,000 from 2012 to 2013, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit organization tracking money in politics. Lobbying disclosure forms had to be filed with the state by July 1.
Dive Insight:
Most of the money was poured into advertising. Hospitals spent $270,000-plus on statewide radio and social media advertisements, while Americans for Prosperity spent $225,000 for radio and television ads attacking Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe for supporting Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
Similar to hospitals throughout the U.S., Virginia's hospitals assert that Medicaid expansion is needed to help cover the cost of care already being provided to the state's poor. The state hospital association spent about $100,000 on lobbyists in the past year, hiring three former high-level aides to former Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell in its unsuccessful effort to woo GOP legislators, AP said.
In opposing Medicaid expansion under reform, most Republican state lawmakers and Americans for Prosperity question whether the federal government will in fact pay for most of the program. They assert that Virginia can’t afford a large-scale increase of an entitlement program.
Republicans successfully blocked Medicaid expansion during the legislative session and a months-long standoff over the state budget that ended in June. McAuliffe isn't backing down, making Medicaid expansion a top priority and vowing to work around the General Assembly. Under this scenario, it would appear that money spent on lobbying both sides of the issue won't be decreasing any time soon.