Insurance Journal - Treating and addressing drug addiction cost West Virginia an estimated $11.3 billion in one year, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy. Read the full article. The report, written by economist Jill Kriesky, says the state spent that much in 2019 on issues that stem from the addiction…
Health
Public News Service - Advocates for impoverished people are urging West Virginia lawmakers to oppose two bills being heard in a House committee Thursday, that they claim punish low-income people and drug users. Read the full article. Senate Bill 387 would make permanent a pilot program that screens recipients of the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Recently, the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy released “Saving Lives and Saving Money: The Case for Harm Reduction in Kanawha County.” Read the full op-ed. As its author, I uncovered available data on the fatality and nonfatality costs associated with the drug epidemic in Kanawha County. I don’t need to…
Hep Mag, POZ - West Virginia will receive $2.4 million in federal funding to help the state prevent and treat HIV, The Associated Press reports. The money arrives as an HIV outbreak among injection drug users shone a national spotlight on the state’s opioid epidemic and sparked debates about syringe exchanges and the economic burdens that result…
Mountain State Spotlight, Beckley Register-Herald - Six weeks after Gov. Jim Justice began his daily pandemic press briefings, Marion County resident Romelia Hodges was frustrated. Read the full article. It was a month to-the-day after West Virginia had lost its first resident to the virus: 88-year-old Viola York Horton, a Black woman from Fairmont who loved to…
Since its inception in 1965, Medicaid has been one of the most impactful anti-poverty public health initiatives in the United States. Medicaid provides low-income Americans with free or low-cost health insurance, allowing them to receive treatment that may otherwise be inaccessible. The program has expanded significantly since its origin to include more people; today, it…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - West Virginia consistently has one of the worst rates of drug overdose deaths in the nation, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that toll has only been increasing in recent years. The West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy released a report on the economic toll of drug-related deaths and…
Parkersburg News and Sentinel - If the human toll is not enough reason for some elected and bureaucratic officials to take seriously the fight against substance abuse and addiction in our state, here is one that might come closer to speaking their language: According to the Center on Budget and Policy, treating and addressing substance…
WCHSTV - A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy said treating and addressing drug addiction cost West Virginia an estimated $11.3 billion in one year. Read the full article. The report was written by economist Jill Kriesky. The Herald-Dispatch reported it said the state spent that much in 2019 on issues that…
WV News, Martinsburg Journal-News, Keyser Mineral Daily News Tribune - Treating and addressing drug addiction cost West Virginia an estimated $11.3 billion in one year, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy. Read the full article. The report, written by economist Jill Kriesky, says the state spent that much in…