It's time to eliminate the asset test for Medicaid and TANF. Right now low-income West Virginians are required to spend down their assets like retirement accounts before they can qualify for financial assistance like Medicaid. Families are depleting resources that could help in the long-term so they can qualify for short-term assistance. Many other states…
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Tax filing can be a costly and complicated process for families and small businesses. The reason the system is so complicated is because for years, paid tax preparation corporations have profited by charging families to fulfill their legal obligation to file taxes each year. These companies, including Intuit and H&R Block, have conducted massive lobbying efforts…
People-Powered Policy July 26-28, 2024 at Marshall University Summer Policy Institute 2024 is almost here! SPI is a convening focused on policy, where participants will learn the ins and outs of policy change through a research and data lens, as well as crucial skills rooted in community engagement and grassroots mobilization. Policy sessions will equip…
WCHS - An annual report showing tracking state trends in child well-being recently ranked West Virginia 48th in education. Read the full article. The Kids Count Data Book released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed rates of absenteeism and proficiencies in reading and math lower than the national average. "The data book this year…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Over objections from social workers, anti-poverty advocates and psychologists, a push to mandate drug testing for welfare recipients is racing toward final passage in the West Virginia Legislature. ReadState lawmakers are backing legislation (SB 6) that would require drug tests for about 4,000 adults who apply for cash assistance through the Temporary…
Charleston Gazette - Poorer families often need short-term financial assistance when family members lose jobs or face serious health problems. Read State government leaders should reduce current requirements that those families must deplete all their savings and assets before they can qualify to receive short-term assistance.
During the 2023 West Virginia legislative session, lawmakers had the opportunity to use available revenues to address longstanding needs like ensuring PEIA and Medicaid solvency, filling crisis-level staffing vacancies across state agencies, or increasing investments in neglected areas like higher education and child care. But instead, the FY 2024 budget debate was dominated by creating…
Nearly 130,000 West Virginia parents and other adults could get health insurance through an expansion of Medicaid to allow more working families to participate, as outlined in the law. Expansion promises to lower costs for hospitals that treat large numbers of patients without insurance, costs which now add up to more than $700 million in…
For Immediate Release: June 10, 2024 Contact: Sean O'Leary, (304)-400-8899 Charleston, WV – West Virginia improved its children’s health ranking compared with recent years, coming in at 35th among the states according to the 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report of recent data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how kids are faring in post-pandemic America. The…
“Right-to-Work” laws do not guarantee jobs for workers. Instead they prohibit unions and employers from including a provision in contracts that requires employees who benefit from union representation to pay for their fair share toward those costs. PDF of Fast Facts. Some state lawmakers argue that if West Virginia adopted a so-called “right-to-work” (RTW) law…