Medicaid Work Requirement Bill Moving in W.Va. House

On this West Virginia Morning, a controversial Medicaid bill that originated in the House Finance Committee last week was on the amendment stage last night in the West Virginia House of Delegates. House Bill 31-36 would create some work requirements for Medicaid holders. Supporters of the bill say it will help West Virginians get “back to work,” while some in the health community have concerns.

On last night’s episode of The Legislature Today, host Suzanne Higgins spoke with Chantal Fields, Executive Director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, and Dr. Simon Haeder, a political science professor at the Rockefeller School of Policy and Politics at West Virginia University. We hear an excerpt from that interview.

Also on today’s show, there are a handful of programs in West Virginia designed to help people as they get older. But there are limitations – for some you must qualify for Medicaid, for instance. Others don’t have enough slots and people sit on waitlists for months or years. But as Kara Lofton reports, none of them are quite enough to serve the state’s rapidly aging population.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

You can keep up with the latest West Virginia news throughout the day on our website, wvpublic.org.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.