Obamacare, like it or not, seems to be working. While some headlines this week showed that the popularity of Obamacare continues to slide, recent surveys are finding the percentage of uninsured people across the country is at historic lows. (Oddly, popularity of the Affordable Care Act, which we all know -- should know, at least -- …
Health
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the release of a bunch of Medicare data today, the biggest release in CMS history, in fact. The data include information for nearly 900,000 distinct health care providers across the country who received over $77 billion in Medicare payments in 2012. This is the second big…
While I appreciated reading a column this week by Hoppy Kercheval about the ACA, I was disappointed to see him recycle the same arguments that have been disproved for months now. Hoppy's biggest concern is how we're going to pay for Medicaid expansion in the future. He points out that the actuarial estimates showed that…
The 2014 County Health Rankings were released this week and in a bit of a surprise, little Pleasants County took top honors, while for the 5th year in a row, McDowell County earned the dubious distinction of the least healthy county in the state. These rankings, compiled annually by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and…
The 81st West Virginia Legislature wrapped up session last Saturday night with 30 health-related bills (by my count). These bills spanned the spectrum from the hot button issue of abortion that continues to generate media coverage to bills that passed multiple committees and both chambers unanimously with nary a peep of press. Here I will…
There was an odd argument that came up earlier this week in the Senate Finance committee debating HB4283 to raise the minimum wage in West Virginia – raising workers' wages would kick West Virginians off of Medicaid. This is odd for a number of reasons: first it suggests support for more dependence on public assistance…
Once again it looks like another year will go by without an increase in the state tobacco tax. This year it is quite surprising though as West Virginia is facing a severe budget crisis and raising tobacco taxes would essentially fix it all in one fell swoop. Nevertheless, our legislators seem intent on using our…
With just over a month left in the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, the share of West Virginians without health insurance has already dropped significantly. As of this week, nearly 100,000 West Virginians have enrolled in health coverage through the ACA. The overwhelming majority of these sign-ups have come through Medicaid expansion,…
Surprise! West Virginia has a budget problem -- about a $200 million problem, in fact (you can read all about it here, here, and here!). Oddly enough, Medicaid, which for years has taken the brunt of the blame for anything budget related, has hardly been mentioned in the fervor. This is especially odd because the…
Bills introduced in both the Senate and the House this session propose to raise the tobacco tax in West Virginia by $1 per pack of cigarettes. While it is a big increase from the 55 cents per pack today, it would actually only catch West Virginia up to the national average ($1.53 per pack) while…