McAuliffe enthusiastically backed Medicaid expansion throughout the
Virginia governor’s race. And like a growing number
of swing-state governors, he made a pragmatic pitch as well as a moral one. “This common-sense policy is not only right morally, it’s good for the economy,” he said in a September statement. “It will provide 400,000 uninsured Virginians access to health insurance, will create an estimated 33,000 jobs, and will bring $21 billion of taxpayer funds back to Virginia.