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byline: Cameron Jones | Capital News Service

Virginia expands Medicaid access for legal immigrants

RICHMOND, Va. — Ni Kin became a permanent resident in 2002 at 70 years old, but she was unable to work after moving from Myanmar to Virginia due to mobility problems.

Kin required more medical attention related to her condition as she aged, but was unable to see a doctor because she didn’t have insurance, according to her grandson Tin Myint. Kin didn’t qualify for Medicaid due to a state rule requiring permanent residents to present 10 years of work history to use public health insurance, Myint said. Kin also did not qualify for no-premium Medicare, since she never worked in the country and does not qualify for Social Security benefits.

“We have family friends who live in other states that were able to get Medicaid when they applied, who’ve been living here for 10 to 15 years, and we thought that applied to us also,” Myint said. “That was disappointing and shocking to hear that Virginia was one of the very few states that had this particular rule.”

Kin is one of thousands of permanent residents in Virginia who will qualify for Medicaid due to a new change eliminating the 10-year work history requirement, known as the “40-quarter rule,” according to the Virginia Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit group that advocates for low-income Virginians. The commonwealth was one of six states with a 10-year work history requirement for Medicaid.

Gov. Ralph Northam and state legislators approved a budget last year that eliminated the rule. The change went into effect this month.

Northam’s line budget amendment includes $4.4 million in state funds for this change, according to the Virginia Poverty Law Center.

Freddy Mejia, a policy analyst at the Commonwealth Institute, said the old rule was a roadblock for legal permanent residents. The Commonwealth Institute is an organization that analyzes the impact of fiscal and economic issues on low-income communities.

“Someone who comes to the country as an older adult, possibly doesn’t get the opportunity to work for 10 years but gets sick,” Mejia said as an example.

Mejia said lawmakers and advocates lobbied for the change in the 2019 General Assembly, but it did not pass. Northam and lawmakers approved the change as a line budget amendment in 2020, but it was vetoed once the COVID-19 pandemic began, Mejia said. It was funded again in the 2020 fall special session, and the change went into effect April 1, 2021.

Mejia credited this change to advocacy efforts from different parties, including the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, and politicians such as Del. Mark Sickles, D- Franconia, Sen. George Barker, D- Alexandria, and Northam.

Jill Hanken, a health attorney and director of ENROLL Virginia, said immigrants have suffered in a disparate way throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and the policy change will encourage people to apply for the coverage they need. ENROLL Virginia is a project of the Virginia Poverty Law Center that helps Virginians access affordable health coverage.

“Statewide it demonstrates that Virginia is welcoming and interested in making sure that immigrants have access to the health services that they need,” Hanken said.

ENROLL Virginia will continue alerting immigrants across the commonwealth of this change, Hanken said.

Meanwhile, Myint is excited to sign his grandmother up for Medicaid.

“I can’t wait for her to get proper medical checkup, the needs that she needs to have a living condition she deserves,” Myint said.

Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.

Va. House kills bill requiring hazard pay for essential employees

RICHMOND, Va. — Lawmakers unanimously shot down legislation this week that would have required employers to provide hazard pay to essential employees and provide protective equipment in the event of a stay-at-home order.

Del. Hala S. Ayala, D-Woodbridge, said she introduced House Bill 2015 to help protect and further compensate employees required to work during a shelter-in-place or stay-at-home order.

The measure required that employers authorized to remain open must pay 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours worked during a stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order. Employers who failed to comply with the bill would be subject to civil penalties not exceeding $1,000 for each violation. A substitute for the bill defined essential employees as health care, home care, airport, transit driver and essential retail workers. The substitute excluded restaurant workers.

“These workers are out there every day putting their lives on the line,” Ayala said. “Whether they’re health care workers or whether they’re grocery store workers, we need to take care of them.”

Ayala also said that a majority of the frontline workers are from minority communities. She said she believes this measure would even the playing field for those who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Business owners testified before a House committee that the increase in pay would lead to a cut in jobs. Airline workers also voiced concerns that such a measure would guarantee furlough.

“We included airport workers because they have also been disproportionately affected by COVID,” Ayala said. “The health threats they face are just as real now as they were at the beginning of this pandemic.”

During the bill’s hearing in the Committee on Appropriations, multiple lawmakers noted that the bill would have tremendous potential to derail the budget.

The Department of Labor and Industry, or DOLI, forecast that several state agencies would see multi-million dollar monthly increases, according to the bill’s impact statement. DOLI also anticipated that new staff would need to be added to investigate claims.

Appropriations determined that the bill’s fiscal impact was too considerable amid other priorities and voted the measure down 21-0.

The bill stalled amid a House push for other progressive labor laws. A bill by Del. Elizabeth R. Guzman, D-Woodbridge, to provide paid sick leave to essential workers advanced to the House this week. It is the delegate’s fourth push for such employee protections.

A recent survey of state resident priorities released by the Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Civic Leadership found that worker’s rights have gained momentum. The center reported that 88% of residents support a minimum of five paid sick days a year.

Stephen Farnsworth, director at the Center for Leadership & Media Studies for the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, said in an email that he believes more progressive changes will eventually come.

“The economic and health care crises we are dealing with in Virginia are putting the brakes on some of the new ideas offered by some of the newer members,” Farnsworth said. “Post-pandemic, some of these issues may have better luck.”

Farnsworth added that as more progressive candidates are elected, there will be more debate between more recently elected candidates and the more long-standing members. This debate among members is going to delay policy, but more progressive policy should be advanced in time, he said.

“While I am disappointed that this bill did not pass, I am proud to have patroned an important piece of legislation that would have helped Virginia workers throughout the COVID pandemic, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on passing other legislation to provide relief to our small businesses and working families,” Ayala said in an email.

Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.

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