Congressman Morgan Griffith’s Vote to Cut Medicaid Will Wipe Out More Jobs Than We’ve Lost in the Coal Industry Over This Generation
Congressman Morgan Griffith’s vote to cut Medicaid funding for Southwest Virginia is poised to deliver an economic hit even more devastating than the region’s decline in coal mining jobs — and it’s happening far faster.
For the past two decades, the decline in Southwest Virginia’s coal mining industry has been largely driven by a shift in the energy market. As natural gas became a cheaper, cleaner alternative for generating electricity, coal’s dominance steadily faded. This shift wasn’t sudden — it unfolded gradually, giving communities time to adjust. While the loss of coal jobs has been hard on families, the economic impact occurred over two decades, allowing some recovery along the way.
The Loss of Coal Jobs in Southwest Virginia
Coal mining employment in Southwest Virginia has steadily declined as power plants transitioned from coal to natural gas:
- Late 1990s – 10,000 coal mining jobs
- 2014 – 3,500 coal mining jobs
- 2023 – 2,530 coal mining jobs
Over the past 25 years, Southwest Virginia has seen a total loss of approximately 9,470 coal mining jobs.
Medicaid Cuts: A Faster, Larger Economic Blow
Now, consider the impact of 60,000 people losing Medicaid benefits due to Griffith’s vote:
- Average Medicaid spending per person = $8,436
- Total Economic Loss = $506 million
In economic terms, this is equivalent to the loss of 3,615 coal mining jobs, assuming each coal miner’s economic impact (including wages and multiplier effects) is $140,000 per year.
In other words, Congressman Griffith’s Medicaid vote effectively wiped out the economic impact of nearly three times more jobs than were lost in the coal industry over the past 25 years — all in one legislative decision.
Economic Comparison
| Economic Event | Total Impact | Jobs Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Coal Mining Job Loss (25 years) | ~$490 million | ~9,470 jobs |
| Medicaid Cuts (one vote) | ~$506 million | ~3,615 jobs equivalent |
What This Means for Southwest Virginia
While the coal industry’s decline played out over time, Griffith’s Medicaid vote will remove over half a billion dollars from Southwest Virginia’s economy almost overnight.
More importantly, Medicaid dollars are far-reaching. Unlike coal, where losses were concentrated in specific mining communities, Medicaid dollars flow throughout the region, supporting:
- Local hospitals that provide care to rural residents.
- Pharmacies that fill Medicaid-covered prescriptions.
- Home health providers who care for seniors and disabled individuals.
- Healthcare workers whose paychecks fuel local businesses.
This vote puts rural hospitals at risk of closure, threatens the stability of medical clinics, and weakens a healthcare network that thousands of families rely on. The ripple effect will be severe — impacting everything from grocery stores to car dealerships as healthcare workers lose income and vulnerable residents struggle to access care.
The Final Blow to Struggling Communities
For years, Southwest Virginia has been working to recover from the loss of coal jobs. The energy shift to natural gas forced communities to adapt, and progress has been slow but steady. Now, Griffith’s Medicaid vote threatens to unravel those hard-fought gains, pulling critical dollars out of the region’s economy in one fell swoop.
The decline of coal jobs was a tough blow, but it happened over two decades. Congressman Griffith’s Medicaid vote, on the other hand, will hit Southwest Virginia’s economy all at once — and the damage may be even harder to repair.
In effect, his vote was the economic equivalent of laying off more coal miners than the region has lost in the past 25 years — and doing so overnight.
For a region that’s already fought hard to survive shifting economic tides, this vote is a step backward that Southwest Virginia cannot afford.