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Fairfax County is preparing for millions of dollars in lost revenue and a surge in administrative work as federal changes reshape SNAP and Medicaid eligibility, funding and enrollment.

The changes stem from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025. County staff outlined the expected local impact during the Board of Supervisors’ Health and Human Services Committee meeting on June 16.

Fairfax County’s fiscal year 2027 budget, adopted May 5, already accounts for an estimated $6.7 million revenue reduction tied to higher state administrative costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Under the new rules, states will cover 75% of SNAP administrative expenses, up from the current 50%.

“The federal government has sort of single-handedly shifted…costs away from itself to states,” county family services director Michael Becketts said.

Because the change takes effect Oct. 1, the $6.7 million estimate is slightly below the potential $8.8 million loss over a full fiscal year. The final amount will depend on Fairfax County’s actual spending and the budget adopted by Virginia.

States also will be required to pay part of their residents’ SNAP benefits when their payment error rates exceed 6%. Those rates measure benefits that were either overpaid or underpaid.

Virginia recorded an 11.5% error rate in 2024, creating a potential $270 million problem for the state. Becketts said Virginia was projecting that the rate had declined to between 8% and 10%, although officials were not yet certain.

Updated figures were expected around June 30. Fairfax County is trying to reduce its contribution to the error rate by ensuring recipients receive the correct benefits on time, but the state has not provided the county’s individual rate.

Changes to SNAP eligibility and the application process have already reduced enrollment nationally by 3.5 million people. In Virginia, participation fell from about 867,000 recipients in March 2025 to 754,000 in 2026. Federal SNAP spending is projected to decline by $187 billion over 10 years.

Medicaid rules bring another wave of changes

Fairfax County is also preparing for residents to lose Medicaid eligibility under new federal restrictions.

Limits on which immigrants can qualify are scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, while work requirements will begin Jan. 1, 2027.

County Department of Family Services Deputy Director Alycia Blackwell warned that the changes could reduce access to preventive care and increase demand for safety-net health services.

The county plans to help distribute state communications and connect affected residents with available resources. Blackwell said the guiding goal is to ensure that no eligible person loses coverage.

Outreach will concentrate on areas expected to be hit especially hard, including Fair Oaks, Annandale, Bailey’s Crossroads and the Route One corridor.

The federal timeline for retroactive coverage of medical costs will also change Jan. 1. County officials say that could have significant consequences for Inova and other health systems that use retroactive Medicaid payments to offset the cost of treatment.

Fairfax County is planning with Inova and examining ways to receive applications from the health system more quickly.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, roughly 50,000 Fairfax County residents covered through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion will undergo eligibility reviews every six months instead of once a year.

Blackwell said doubling the reviews will substantially increase the county’s workload while requiring residents to complete the process twice as often. The Board of Supervisors has approved 13 new positions to help handle the added work.

Many affected residents will need to document at least 80 hours per month of employment, volunteer service, education or job training every six months. Some recipients may qualify for exemptions, but the county is awaiting state data to determine how many residents will have to meet the requirement.

Lisa Tatum, a division director in the Department of Family Services, said the county is positioned to assist Medicaid recipients who need employment to remain eligible because it already operates Virginia Career Works and SNAP’s employment and training program.

“We know how to do this,” Tatum said. “We just need to be able to adapt it to our Medicaid enrollees.”