AHCA Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Interview: Sen. Sanders on GOP Health Care Reform

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders held two health care rallies yesterday in Covington, Kentucky and Morgantown, West Virginia, telling attendees to put pressure on their state representatives to vote against the GOP health care plans. Kara Lofton spoke with Sanders about his visits and what he thinks the proposed legislation would mean for Appalachia.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

Proposed GOP Cuts to Medicaid Could Cause Job Loss, Hospital Closure in Rural America

A vote on the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has been put on hold after several Republican Senators, including West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito, have publicly said they cannot support it. Nationally, opposition for the bill continues to mount as more and more groups release reports about the negative impacts the current bill could have on access to treatment in rural areas, like much of West Virginia.

The most recent analysis of both the House and Senate versions of the bill was released earlier today by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. Chartis is a national firm that provides strategic and economic planning services to some of the largest healthcare providers in the country.

According to the group’s findings, if Congress follows through with the proposed cuts to Medicaid, rural health care providers could lose nearly a billion and a half dollars of revenue per year.

This comes at a time when 41 percent of rural hospitals are already operating with budget deficits and many others have closed due to financial strain. The continued loss of revenue, according to the Chartis report, could result in additional closures, leaving rural Americans with fewer options when it comes to health care.

But the impact to rural health systems is larger than access to treatment, the report says. It’s also economic.

If the Senate’s version of the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would pass, the Chartis Center estimates 34,000 community and health jobs would be lost. States that expanded Medicaid, like West Virginia, are estimated to experience nearly twice the number of job cuts when compared to their non-expansion counterparts.

West Virginia’s Senators, Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin, have both said they have concerns over the bill’s impacts in West Virginia. The actions by the Republican majority this week likely means the bill will see changes before being put to a final vote in the Senate.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

Six West Virginians Arrested after Sit-In at Senator Capito's Office

Six West Virginians held a sit-in at Senator Shelley Moore Capito’s office in Charleston yesterday saying they wouldn’t leave until she votes against the Senate bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. The group was peacefully arrested around 5pm.

The Senate plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act was released last week. Five Republican Senators have come out against the bill as written. West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Captio has not made a definitive statement one way or another. Her office told West Virginia Public Broadcasting yesterday that she “is continuing to review and working to improve the health care legislation released last week. She welcomes and appreciates the perspectives of West Virginians as this process continues.”

The group holding the sit-in is part of Rise-Up West Virginia, one of many state activist groups who have expressed opposition to the GOP health care plan.

“If she doesn’t vote no, she is doing such damage to the citizens of West Virginia that we would hope the citizens of West Virginia would realize how bad that is,” said Terry Pickett, one of the stand-in participants.

The Congressional Budget Office released an analysis of the Senate plan Monday. It found the bill would leave 22 million more people uninsured by 2026 than are today under the Affordable Care Act. That’s about a million fewer than a similar plan proposed by the House last month.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

Report Projects GOP Health Bill Will Harm Hospitals in Every State

This week, the U.S. Senate debuted their GOP health bill, a plan that includes deep cuts to Medicaid. These cuts would have dramatic impacts on hospital finances in every state, according to an analysis released this morning by the Commonwealth Fund, particularly in Medicaid expansion states like West Virginia.

Over the next 10 years, uncompensated care costs may increase by almost 80 percent in Medicaid expansion states, the analysis found. The authors project that by 2026, West Virginia could expect to see uncompensated care costs rise 122 percent and 165 percent in Kentucky.

The report also said that rural hospitals will be negatively affected, many of whom have already been struggling to keep doors open. Concerns about infrastructure – not just hospitals, but also federally funded health centers – are echoed by Michael Brumage, executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston County health department.

“It’s not only the provision of direct medical care, but also the community’s ability to respond to things like disease outbreaks or floods like we had last year here in West Virginia,” he said.

So far, five Republican Senators have come out against the bill. West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito has expressed concerns with the legislation, but has not formally made a statement one way or another.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

Report Says House Health Bill Will Negatively Impact Medicaid Expansion

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report Tuesday, June 6, saying the GOP House health bill would negatively impact Medicaid expansion by shifting costs to states — a move the CBPP said would harm millions, regardless of timing.

But supporters of the bill, including representative Evan Jenkins, said the new bill will give the states the flexibility they require to meet their unique needs. “Under this legislation, West Virginia would have a choice about what will work best for us, and we must make sure the most vulnerable are protected,” he wrote in a statement after the House vote.

Thirty-two states, including the District of Columbia and West Virginia, expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, allowing millions of low-income non-elderly adults to gain access to health care.

The new House bill, known as the American Health Care Act, proposes cutting federal spending on Medicaid by about $834 billion – or a quarter – over the next 10 years, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis.

This cut would shift the burden of paying for Medicaid expansion from the federal government to the states.

“The higher costs would range to 2.5 times more in West Virginia to 4.5 times more in Massachusetts with the cost sharing growing higher each and every year,” said Edwin Park, Vice President for Health Policy at the CBPP in a press call.

He said for West Virginia specifically, the cost for Medicaid expansion would double in just one year after the AHCA’s provisions related to expansion take effect, costing the state about $88 million.

All of West Virginia’s representatives voted for the House Bill.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

Cancer Action Network Urges Governors to Voice Concerns with AHCA

The Cancer Action Network – the American Cancer Society’s lobbying arm – is urging governors across the country, including West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, to voice concerns with the House-passed American health Care Act. They released a letter directed to all U.S. governors yesterday.

The group is particularly concerned with the legislation’s proposal to dramatically reduce funding to Medicaid – a move that would disproportionately affect poor states that expanded the program like West Virginia.

West Virginia also has the third highest rate of cancer in the nation – surpassed only by Kentucky and Mississippi. Cancer is a pre-existing condition under the bill and the new healthcare law could result in some cancer survivors being dropped from or refused healthcare coverage.

Specifically, the letter claims the funding proposed in the bill is “completely inadequate to meet the coverage needs of this population.”

The letter finally lists several recommendations for the governors to consider when talking with Congress about health policy reform, including urging them to protect Medicaid, to oppose waiving essential health benefits and to oppose the legislation’s continuous coverage requirements.

In a written statement from his office, Governor Justice said he remains concerned about protecting the state’s elderly and disabled populations and he will review the proposal if the bill becomes law.

During a May press conference West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch did say he supported the legislation’s promise to increase Medicaid flexibility for states.

The AHCA has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and is being considered by the U.S. Senate.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.