100 Days in Appalachia, The Good Men Project - The numbers are now frighteningly familiar: More than a million Americans dead from a drug overdose in the past two decades. More than 100,000 of those deaths came in 2021, in the middle of a global health crisis. Read the full article. Americans are now more likely to…
Health
Beckley Register-Herald - When local attorney Todd Kirby was running for the Beckley seat in the House of Delegates last fall – a race he won – he talked about solving the drug overdose death crisis in the state. He wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last. Read the full op-ed. The candidate…
Public News Service, Clay County Free Press - It's been 13 years since more than 156,000 West Virginians gained health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Read the full article. As sweeping and sometimes controversial as the ACA has been, its longer-term effects are still being felt today at the state level. Gary Zuckett, executive director…
Morgan Messenger - West Virginia has long faced significant health-related challenges, many of which could have been meaningfully addressed by bills introduced during the 2023 legislative session. While a couple of positive health-focused bills were passed by the legislature this year, unfortunately lawmakers focused much of their attention on health-related policies based on fear—not facts.…
West Virginia has long faced significant health-related challenges, many of which could have been meaningfully addressed by bills introduced during the 2023 legislative session. Maternal and infant mortality rates continue to rise nationally, and the most recent pre-pandemic state data indicated that infant mortality in West Virginia outpaces the national rate.[1] Opioid overdose deaths continue to take the…
Beckley Register-Herald, Fayette Tribune - The state health department will soon be required to assess if more than 600,000 Medicaid users — more than a third of the state’s population — are still eligible for free or low-cost health insurance. Read the full article. The undertaking comes as the department, which is facing mounting criticism…
Mountain State Spotlight - When COVID first upended West Virginia in spring 2020, the federal government took steps to make sure people had access to the food and health insurance they needed. In some cases, benefits increased. In others, like Medicaid, state officials were allowed to temporarily stop checking eligibility requirements. Since then, the insurance…
WOWK - Our Future West Virginia will have a free, public Medicaid forum on the West Side of Charleston, West Virginia, in March. Read the full article. The organization says the COVID-19 Pandemic Emergency Coverage program will soon end, leaving many West Virginians without Medicaid coverage. The forum will help teach the community about important…
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government passed legislation to help families and health care providers amid an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Among the provisions, states were required to keep people who receive health insurance via Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) continuously enrolled in the programs in exchange…
Beckley Register-Herald - The state health department will soon be required to assess if more than 600,000 Medicaid users – more than a third of the state’s population – are still eligible for free or low-cost health insurance. Read the full article. The undertaking comes as the department, which is facing mounting criticism for its…