Sickles: Way Off

"I quintupled the number?! Oh Dear..."

In his never-ending quest for a narrative to sell Medicaid Expansion to Virginia, Mark Sickles got some serious wires crossed. When the beleagured Delegate claimed that a full 30% of the state's Medicaid
costs go to seniors in nursing care, Politifact flatly rated his statement false. Reminder: this guy sits on the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee...

Let's keep our numbers within the realm of the believable, shall we? The fact is that hardly over 2% of Medicaid recipients are in nursing care, and they use less than 10% of the funds. 

Not only does that number fail to strengthen Sickles' argument, it strengthens the argument that we should be wary of expansion. When the 2% of patients in nursing homes becomes 4%, or 6%, what will happen to their 10% share of the budget pie?




VA GOP Caucus

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