Virginia is gearing up to expand Medicaid eligibility to as many as 400,000 residents in January, but requirements that recipients work and pay premiums could lag two years behind, officials said this week. The gap has infuriated Republican state senators who opposed the expansion effort and viewed work requirements as making it slightly less objectionable. But the state’s director of medical services, Jennifer Lee, told lawmakers this week that the timetable is largely up to authorities in Washington who have to grant Virginia a waiver to impose restrictions on the federally funded Medicaid program. (Gregory S. Schneider, Washington Post)
