I know you’ve been hearing a lot about healthcare in the news lately. For many of us, the chaos raining down from D.C. is overwhelming, especially because in Virginia we’ve been fighting a conservative effort to sabotage meaningful healthcare reform, including Medicaid expansion, for years.

One such example is 93rd District House of Delegates candidate Heather Cordasco, who has been a steadfast opponent of the effort to expand Medicaid—and thus health coverage—for 400,000 low-income, hard-working families.

In 2013, current Governor Terry McAuliffe campaigned on the platform of closing the coverage gap, a move that would provide nearly free health insurance to 400,000 low-income Virginians, largely paid for with federal dollars. It is a move progressives in the state have long supported, and one that has been repeatedly blocked by conservatives. Conservatives like—you guessed it—Heather Cordasco!

For years, Cordasco’s objection to the federally funded (90 percent of the funds come from the feds) Medicaid expansion is that it’s—wait for it—just too expensive.

In 2014, Cordasco tweeted a link promoting a YouTube video “that exposes the truth about Medicaid expansion.” The video, which featured Cordasco, has since been taken down. We’re still wondering why. It might be because Cordasco employs the same argument used by conservatives like Del. Steve Landes, whose claims about Medicaid expansion costs have been debunked. Cordasco herself used very similar language to Landes in a forum in 2016, stating  “expanding Medicaid could take money out of other important government services such as public safety, education, or transportation.” As you can see, Cordasco is resorting to using conservative scare tactics (also debunked), raising the specter that public safety services will be cut.

Let us be very clear here: Politifact has rated Landes—and, by extension, Heather’s—claims as completely false. The claims that Cordasco is making against closing the coverage gap are wrong, period.  

Specifically, Politifact proved that these assumptions didn’t account for the tax money the federal government would return to our state and the supplement of already existing Medicaid costs. With an estimated 747,000 uninsured Virginians, Cordasco is clearly turning her back on a federally funded way to expand healthcare to our communities.

When you vote on November 7, ask yourself if you want a Delegate who is not only ignoring solutions to our healthcare crisis, but who is also turning her back on 747,000 Virginians.