Commentary: For 350,000 Virginians, health care may soon disappear

The higher costs resulting from the expiration of the EPTC may be insurmountable for many Virginians, as costs remain high and budgets are stretched thin. An average family of four in Virginia would see an estimated 43% increase in their annual premiums. For many, that extra cost will become a choice between health insurance and other basic needs like rent, food or utilities.

All in all, 350,000 working Virginians and their families who rely on these credits are at risk of losing insurance because their coverage was made unaffordable.

The impact will also ripple throughout the state economy, costing $253.7 million in state GDP and cutting 2,000 jobs for hardworking residents. Many of these jobs will bleed from our rural communities across the Shenandoah Valley and Eastern, Southwest and Southside Virginia, where so many individuals are already underserved and lack access to the care they need.

With hundreds of thousands of people no longer insured, hospitals and other providers will have to account for large increases in uncompensated care. Our rural hospitals and community providers are already operating on thin margins, and many won’t survive this blow. In this way, the effects of the EPTC expiration will affect not only those Virginians who currently receive them, but also their neighbors with private, employer-sponsored insurance who no longer have a hospital in their community to rely on.

These are not issues that Americans are taking lightly — and neither should our representatives. In a recent survey, nearly half of voters said they would be less likely to vote for their member of Congress if they oppose extending the health care tax credit. A poll from Trump’s own pollster, Tony Fabrizio, shows that not only do 9 in 10 Democratic voters support extending the EPTC, but so do more than two-thirds of Trump voters and nearly three-fourths of swing voters.