Health

April 7, 2025 by Seth DiStefano
New SNAP Restrictions May Spell Big Changes To Food Access In Small-Town W.Va.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting - A single road connects Shannondale and its roughly 3,000 residents to the rest of Jefferson County. The rural community flanks West Virginia’s easternmost border, fixed between the Shenandoah River and the Blue Ridge Mountains. That makes for breathtaking waterside vistas, but one heck of a grocery commute. Read the full…

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April 7, 2025 by WVCBP
West Virginians Have Sent a Clear Message to Lawmakers: Don’t Cut Medicaid

West Virginia Watch - Last week West Virginians sent a clear message: Don’t cut Medicaid.  Read the full op-ed. In overwhelming numbers, families, advocates and health care providers turned out to reject House Bill 3518, and called on their legislators to reject this dangerous proposal that would have automatically eliminated the Medicaid expansion — and with…

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April 6, 2025 by Kelly Allen
Capito Acknowledges Medicaid is Under Scrutiny as Congress Works on Budget Deal

West Virginia MetroNews - As Congress moves closer to a budget deal, Senator Shelley Moore Capito has acknowledged the possibility of significant effects on Medicaid. Read the full article. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program for health insurance and medical services, traditionally for low-income people but more recently also for the working class.…

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April 3, 2025 by WVCBP
Press Conference Highlighting How Federal Budget Cuts Threaten Health Care, Food Assistance, and Education in McDowell County

For Immediate Release: April 3, 2025 Contact: Vivian Anderson, (304)-585-7413  McDowell County, WV— One of West Virginia’s most economically challenged and rural counties is bracing for the devastating impact of federal budget cuts, which threaten essential programs and the already fragile health care infrastructure that serves the region. The proposed cuts would drastically reduce funding for…

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March 31, 2025 by Kelly Allen
WV Lawmakers Put Medicaid Expansion Trigger Bill on Inactive Calendar

West Virginia Watch, Charleston Gazette-Mail - West Virginia lawmakers on Monday walked back a measure that would have put more than 165,000 residents at risk of losing their health care coverage through Medicaid expansion.  Read the full article. House Bill 3518 would have put in place a trigger so that if the federal government lowered the…

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March 28, 2025 by Kelly Allen
Trigger Bill Puts Health Coverage for 165,000 and $1 Billion at Risk

On Thursday, the House Finance committee originated a bill, HB 3518, that would “disenroll and eliminate state coverage” for the Medicaid expansion population if the federal match for the program is reduced. According to the most recent data available (December 2024), more than 165,000 West Virginians between the ages of 19-64 would lose their health…

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March 28, 2025 by Seth DiStefano
RFK Jr. Pushes Ban on Soda From Being Purchased With Food Stamps

Washington Post, Spokesman Review - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s quest to reshape food policy in America took him to an event in West Virginia with the state’s Republican governor, who announced Friday his intent to seek the federal government’s help in barring the use of food stamps to buy soda. Read the full article. “Taxpayer…

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