This fall, about 5,800 Virginians are losing full Medicaid. That is the state's own estimate. The change took effect on October 1.
They are in the U.S. legally. A federal law passed in July 2025 changed who can get Medicaid. Now adults who are not citizens are covered only if they have a green card or belong to a few small groups.
Who is losing it?
Virginia's Medicaid agency says they include refugees, people granted asylum, people let in on parole, and victims of trafficking. Children and pregnant women keep their coverage. For adults who lose it, Medicaid will pay only for emergency care.
And then Medicare
The same law also changes Medicare. Early next year, about 32,000 people nationwide will lose it, the federal government estimates. No one has said how many live in Virginia.
About 118,000 Virginians have both Medicare and Medicaid in a special plan. Normally, someone who loses Medicaid can stay in that plan for up to six months, if they are likely to get Medicaid back. Not here. These people get 30 days' notice. Then they are out.
What this means for our health centers
Virginia's 26 community health centers saw about 410,000 patients last year. By law, they cannot turn anyone away because the person cannot pay. So people losing Medicaid will still come in. The center will often not be paid.
At some centers in Northern Virginia, more than half of patients are best served in a language other than English. Many are citizens or have green cards. But centers like these are likely to feel this most. The state has set aside some money for clinics, but its health secretary says it cannot replace the federal money.
What this means for health plans
For Virginia's Medicaid plans, which cover about 1.5 million people, 5,800 is small. The bigger job falls on the state: checking records, sending letters, handling appeals. Every mistake is a person who loses care they should have kept.
What Virginia should do now
Count. Say how many of the 5,800 also have Medicare, where they live, and which groups they are in.
Check. Re-check records and fix mistakes fast. A refugee who now has a green card should not lose Medicaid by mistake.
Explain. Send letters people can read, in their own language, that say how to appeal and by when.
Help the clinics. Tell health centers how much help is coming, and when.
These are our neighbors, here legally. If Virginia must carry out this law, it should do it carefully, and tell the rest of us how many people are paying the price.
