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With the Republican health care bill facing an uncertain fate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine Monday highlighted the potential impacts to children with complex medical conditions who rely on Medicaid an effort to shame the GOP into compromise while boosting Democratic prospects in the upcoming statewide elections.

Its important that we share stories about what Medicaid really does, Kaine (D) said before convening a roundtable discussion with parents and health care providers of children with disabilities inside Northern Virginia Community Colleges Medical Education campus. For many, Medicaid is about enabling them to live more independently, enabling them to be more successful in school.

The event was one in a string of appearances by Democrats around the country in recent weeks as they seek to rally opposition to Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with legislation that, among other things, would phase out extra funds provided by the federal government as an incentive to expand eligibility for Medicaid.

The Republican Better Care Reconciliation Act would also wipe out the system of open-ended entitlements under Medicaid by putting the program on a budget.

In Virginia, Kaine has campaigned against the bill through public meetings that underscored the potential impacts to seniors, public school children, foster kids and others among an estimated 1 million Virginians who rely on Medicaid.

His office says that more than 11,000 people have called during the past three weeks to urge the former Democratic candidate for vice president to fight harder to defeat the Republican health care plan.

More broadly, a recent Quinnipiac University poll pegged President Trumps approval rating in Virginia at 40 percent and found that nearly six in 10 Virginians disapproved of House Republicans health-care bill.

That may reflect a larger backlash against Republicans in the state that could help Democrat Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam beat Republican Ed Gillespie during Novembers gubernatorial election, political analysts say.

Gillespie, aware of the more moderate views in his state, has avoided taking a firm stance on the Republican health care plan, arguing that he is focused on state policies as a gubernatorial candidate and would match state policies to whatever the federal policy is.

Quentin Kidd, director of Christopher Newport Universitys Wason Center for Public Policy, said Northam and his supporters will nonetheless try to link Gillespie to the health care plan as much as possible.

They want voters to think about this issue in the context of a national referendum on Trump and Republicans, said Quentin Kidd, director of Christopher Newport Universitys Wason Center for Public Policy. If that offensive could take hold at the gubernatorial level, it would be natural that it would also roll down to the state house levels.

In addition to governor, lieutenant governor and state attorney general, all 100 House of Delegates seats are up for grabs in November.

At Mondays roundtable, the parents and pediatricians there said they were more concerned about how the health care bill would affect their ability to provide care to children dealing with an array of health problems.

Though Republican Senators returned from their holiday break seeming deeply divided over several aspects of the legislation, the roundtable participants said they arent convinced the bill is on its way to dying.

It should be dead, but I dont think we can say that it is, Kaine warned.

To the participants in the roundtable discussion, that means tens of thousands of dollars per year in Medicaid support is still on the line.

Several said the federal subsidy has helped pay for feeding tubes, wheel chairs, surgeries and in-home nurses aid for people with disabilities that is already in short supply in Virginia, with more than 11,000 people on a state waiting list for Medicaid vouchers.

These costs are going to be so high, worried Corinne Kunkel, whose son Dylan, 5, was born with a condition known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy with Respiratory Distress and receives a Medicaid waiver to help pay for a ventilator that allows him to breathe.

Its not like were asking for handouts, added Jennifer Reese, whose daughter Cailyn, 9, was born with a genetic seizure disorder and receives help from Medicaid for her treatment, including diapers that run $350 per box.

This is all stuff we need, said Reese, a director at the ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia, an advocacy group for people with disabilities. If we didnt have Medicaid we definitely wouldnt still own our house and I probably wouldnt have been able to keep working.

Dr. Samuel Bartle, an assistant professor at the Childrens Hospital of Richmond at VCU, predicted more families without insurance will turn to emergency rooms as a primary source of care.

Ive seen them come in at 2 a.m., where they come in and say: `I cant get an appointment because no one will take me, he said. We end up having to hospitalize them just to provide a certain service. Having Medicaid cut is going to put a bigger strain.

Nodding his head, Kaine said those dark scenarios have been mostly absent from discussion on Capitol Hill because the Republican leadership in the Senate crafted the legislation largely behind closed doors.

Weve had no hearings, said Kaine, who sits on the Senates Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Were ready to talk and to try to find the improvements but were being given no opporunity to.

Over the long term, that will prove to be politically damaging for Republicans on both the national level and in Virginia, he predicted.

When you have a guy running for governor like Ralph Northam, who has spent his life as a pediatrician, youre gonna hear an awful lot about health care in this governors race, he said. And, that is on peoples minds.

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Va. Sen. Kaine lobbies against Republican health care plan on both national and state political fronts - Washington Post