RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe plans to expand public health care to 20,000 mentally ill adult residents. But he will not try a large-scale unilateral expansion of the state’s Medicaid program. McAuliffe said Monday at a Capitol news conference that he wants to target his efforts to provide health care for the neediest of the state’s 1 million uninsured. The governor also plans outreach efforts to help enroll many of the state’s uninsured into existing programs and to provide dental care for about 45,000 pregnant women who already receive publicly funded health care. McAuliffe had previously promised to expand Medicaid to about 400,000 eligible low-income adults using mostly federal funds. He was blocked by the Republican-controlled General Assembly earlier this year.
