Health care is a top priority for voters. As Trump and Republicans continue their health care sabotage, Democrats are fighting to expand Medicaid and increase access to health care coverage.

Americans’ top concern is the availability and affordability of health care, and it was a top priority for Virginia voters in last year’s elections.

The Hill: “A majority of Americans say issues surrounding health care is a top concern for them, according to a new Gallup poll.Fifty-five percent of those polled said they worry ‘a great deal’ about the cost and availability of health care in the U.S., while 23 percent said they worry about the issue ‘a fair amount.’”

NBC News: “Health care is a priority for Virginia voters, according to early results from the NBC News exit poll, with 37 percent citing it as the most important issue to their vote.”

Virginia lawmakers approved Medicaid expansion to roughly 400,000 low-income Virginians, after Democrats campaigned heavily on the issue and made unexpectedly large gains last November.

ABC News: “Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's expected signature should enable roughly 400,000 newly eligible low-income Virginias to begin enrolling in Medicaid at the start of next year. […] But Republicans took notice when Democrats campaigned heavily on expanding Medicaid last year and made unexpectedly large gains, reshaping the state legislature in an anti-Trump wave.”

Medicaid expansion continues to build momentum across the country and could lead to more than 500,000 Americans gaining health coverage.

Axios: “Meanwhile, Medicaid expansion will officially be on the ballot this fall in Utah. […] Advocates in Idaho also say they've collected enough signatures to get the expansion on the ballot. It would cover up to 62,000 people there. The bottom line: If all three states ultimately sign on, more than 500,000 Americans could gain health coverage, and Medicaid could become even more politically difficult to cut.”

Meanwhile, Trump and Republican sabotage will increase health care premiums by double digits and lead to 3 million more uninsured Americans.

The Hill: “ObamaCare premiums are expected to rise an average of 15 percent next year, an increase largely due to the GOP’s repeal of the individual mandate, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis released Wednesday. […] CBO also projected that there will be three million more uninsured people between 2018 and 2019, largely due to the repeal of the individual mandate and higher premiums.”

The Trump administration has proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts and other harmful changes to reduce access to Medicaid.

Vox: “The Trump proposal implements the deepest possible cuts for Medicaid and the Graham-Cassidy block grants, picking the lowest of the available growth rates (the regular Consumer Price Index, which is lower than the medical CPI) for the block grants.The net result is a $675 billion federal spending cut by 2028. That includes a $1.4 trillion cut to Medicaid (offset by spending on the block grants) after Trump promised during his presidential campaign not to cut the program.”