Charleston Gazette-Mail – While West Virginia made progress years ago in decreasing the number of uninsured people in the state, a U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday suggests that progress may be slowing after no change in the rate of insurance coverage between 2017 and 2018. Read article.
In 2018, 114,000 — or 6.4 percent — of people in West Virginia did not have health insurance, an insignificant change compared to 2017, according to the report.
In 2017, though, the number of uninsured rose in the state and coupled with the lack of change last year, that may indicate a curb in the early progress made enrolling people after West Virginia expanded Medicaid, according to Sean O’Leary, a policy analyst at the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy.
“West Virginia should be proud of the progress made in reducing the number of people who don’t have access to healthcare,” O’Leary said in a news release. “Over 114,000 people in the state are still uninsured, and with recent gains in coverage beginning to be lost, there is still work to be done to make sure every West Virginian has access to quality and affordable healthcare coverage.”
