Earlier this week, nearly 100 West Virginians, including farmers, educators, advocates and food pantry representatives, gathered in Buckhannon to address solutions to hunger in the Mountain State. The Food for All Summit was hosted by the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy and other partners to focus…
Health
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…
On Monday, we will celebrate the service and sacrifice of American Veterans. Here at the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, we think no one in America should go hungry, especially not our veterans once they return home to West Virginia. So we're calling on Congress to support and pass a farm bill that…
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…
For Immediate Release Media Contact: Caitlin Cook (304) 543-4879 (Charleston, WV) - 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 report released today from the West Virginia Center on Budget and…
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…
Christian Science Monitor - When public school teachers in West Virginia heard last winter that their health insurance premiums would skyrocket, Brianne Solomon wasn’t sure anything could be done about it. Educators like her were grumbling, to be sure, but their union’s clout in this right-to-work state was questionable. Read.
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…
Social Security continues to play vital role in reducing poverty in West Virginia. According to the latest Census data, in 2014-2015 there were approximately 318,000 West Virginians living in poverty, including 40,000 seniors. Without Social Security, 132,000 more West Virginians would live in poverty. Most people aged 65 and older receive the majority of their…
by Betty Rivard and Ted BoettnerWest Virginia has been targeted by a number of conservative groups to adopt a resolution calling on Congress to convene a constitutional convention of the states, with the goal of adopting a balanced budget amendment (BBA). Opponents from across the full political spectrum are alarmed that a convention of the…