West Virginians for Affordable Health Care is hosting U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on Tuesday, November 22, at 11 a.m. on the campus of the University of Charleston. Register here.
Secretary Burwell will talk with West Virginians who have benefitted from the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare). The event will be hosted in the Erma Byrd Art Gallery. Registration is required.
More than 170,000 West Virginians have enrolled in expanded Medicaid, a provision of the ACA. Additionally, over 35,000 residents purchased ACA-compliant plans last year on the state’s health insurance marketplace.
WVCBP Executive Director Ted Boettner weighs in on West Virginia’s revenue sources in the State Journal. Read here.
“While state sales and income tax collections nationally are certainly being impacted by low inflation, weak wage growth and low energy prices, several other long-term factors are also impacting state tax collections,” Boettner said.
“These include major income tax cuts that some states have enacted, such as Kansas, growth in business tax incentives and rising income inequality. One big cause of declining sales tax revenues is that more of what families and businesses buy is tax-free, such as internet sales.”
Michael E. Webber writes “The Coal Industry Isn’t Coming Back” in this New York Times opinion piece. Read here.
“Donald J. Trump made many important campaign promises on his way to victory. But saving coal is one promise he won’t be able to keep. Many in Appalachia and other coal-mining regions believe that President Obama’s supposed war on coal caused a steep decline in the industry’s fortunes.
“But coal’s struggles to compete are caused by cheap natural gas, cheap renewables, air-quality regulations that got their start in the George W. Bush administration and weaker-than-expected demand for coal in Asia.”
Larissa MacFarquhar re-connects with Southern West Virginia residents in her “Learning Trump Won, In West Virginia” for The New Yorker. Read here.
“I spoke with Ojeda and others in Logan last summer about the election, because southern West Virginia was unusually enthusiastic about Trump, and not just for economic reasons.”
“Many there felt that Trump was the first candidate in a while to treat West Virginia as a valued part of working America, rather than as a place to send welfare checks. They saw that the élites who mocked Appalachia also mocked and despised Trump, and that made them like him even more.”
This week, the WVCBP staff enjoyed several days in beautiful Fayette County, West Virginia for its staff retreat.
The team kicked off the retreat with an adrenaline-inducing zip lining adventure in the New River Gorge area before focusing on up-coming projects and campaigns.
During the second day of the retreat, WVCBP staff hosted a WV United meeting where about 25 coalition partners joined us in Fayetteville. WV United formed in 2004 and meets monthly.
