Beckley Register-Herald - With an unusually frothy head of news coming out of our nation’s capital these past couple of weeks, concerning even for an administration defined by constant chaos, and with fortunes falling fast on Wall Street as the overall economy sits on a perilous perch overlooking an anticipated slowdown in 2019, the buzz…
Health
Earlier this month, a US District Court Judge issued a ruling in the Texas v. Azar lawsuit brought by 20 state attorneys general, including West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey. If upheld, this ruling would invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA), which includes many important provisions beyond the ACA’s marketplaces and pre-existing condition protections. It is…
West Virginia University professor Simon F. Haeder provides an assessment of the impact work requirements would have on Medicaid beneficiaries in West Virginia in this new report. More than 200,000 West Virginians would be affected if West Virginia implemented work requirements similar to Kentucky's. Of the 200,000 West Virginians impacted, 70,000 would be be exempt; 36,000…
The annual open enrollment period for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, began on November 1stand continues through December 15th. This is a great time for folks who don’t get insurance through a job, Medicare or Medicaid to shop for health coverage at www.healthcare.gov. The Affordable Care Act and the…
West Virginia's population is increasingly living in urban areas, with those urban areas experiencing all the state's job growth in the past quarter century, leaving rural West Virginia behind in many key areas, according to a new West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy report. The report, State of Rural West Virginia, shows rural West Virginians primarily…
Last week, the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) Task Force held its first meeting to address the growing costs of health care coverage for public workers in West Virginia. The growing costs of health care for teachers and other public employees was a central reason why teachers went on strike for nine school…
The latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Cassidy-Graham bill, would cut West Virginia's funding for Medicaid by $2.0 billion by 2027. This would undermine health coverage for tens of thousands of West Virginian's and threaten the state's historic gains in health coverage stemming from the Affordable Care Act. The Cassidy-Graham bill cuts…
While it is unclear what version of the legislation the U.S. Senate will plan to take up on Tuesday (7/25) when they vote to proceed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the revised version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) would be particularly harmful to West Virginians. An updated report from the…
The Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), the latest Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was introduced in the U.S. Senate on June 22, 2017, and is awaiting a vote. In its current form, the bill would eliminate most of the provisions of the ACA, including its tax provisions, and drastically cut…
This West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy report, West Virginia Economy Would Suffer Under Proposed Health Care Plans, breaks down the economic gains the state has experienced since the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the devastating impacts its repeal could have in West Virginia, specifically in rural areas with higher concentrations of…