According to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of West Virginians covered by an employer-sponsored health insurance plan has dropped significantly since 2000. In that year, over 63 percent of all West Virginians had insurance provided through an employer compared to less than 56 percent in 2012, a drop of over…
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It's with a heavy heart that I share the news of the passing this weekend of Dr. George Pickett, a titan of public health, not only in West Virginia but nationally and abroad. Dr. Pickett was a physician who spent his career working in public health in every imaginable way possible. He worked at the local…
Obamacare isn't perfect and I don't hesitate to admit it. Recently, however, there has been a number of opponents referring to it as a "train wreck." They say it will put a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor, that it is driving health care costs up, and that people won't support it. Fortunately, we…
Over Labor Day weekend, the Economic Policy Institute released a handy tool, based on their inequality.is project, that shows you how much you would be making today, if wages had kept up with productivity over that last three decades. After WWII, wages and productivity grew hand in hand. As workers produced more, they earned more.…
The Big, Bad, Scary Wolf that is Obamacare is coming after the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. At least that's what our insurance provider wants us to think. In a letter sent to the office a couple of weeks ago, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield plays the Obamacare fear card, and then, somewhat astonishingly,…
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey misinformed business leaders and elected officials this week at the WV Chamber of Commerce's Annual Business Summit when he said: "We know that if you look around to all the states West Virginia touches, we have the highest combined individual and corporate tax rate." There are several problems with this statement.…
Last year, using projections from the Energy Information Agency's Annual Energy Outlook report, we showed that coal production in Central Appalachia was heading for a steep decline, with or without new environmental regulations. This year's report tells the same story. Under the EIA's baseline model, Central Appalachian coal production is projected to decline from 186.4…
BREAKING NEWS: Health care costs are slowing down! Now to be clear, health care costs are not going down, they're just growing less quickly than before. Putting it like that doesn't make it sound all that promising but the truth is that it is actually a pretty big deal and caught most everyone flat-footed. It's…
Want to be healthier and live longer? Then you might want to move to Aspen, Colorado, home of the healthiest county in the U.S. You'll also want to avoid our own McDowell County, one of the least healthy counties in the country. Every year, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at…
Hospitals serve a vital role in any community, providing life-saving care to the injured and ill while contributing significant dollars and hours to community service. For example, an article in yesterday's Charleston Daily Mail proclaims that the Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) "reports $115 million in area benefit" in 2012. These benefits included training classes…