Medicare Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

‘I’m retiring. I’m not quitting’: Cecil Roberts Looks Back On UMWA Career

He says that in his 30 years at the head of the union, no achievement was more important than saving the health care and pensions of tens of thousands of retired coal miners.

Cecil Roberts will step down as president of the United Mine Workers of America in October.

He says that in his 30 years at the head of the union, no achievement was more important than saving the health care and pensions of tens of thousands of retired coal miners.

Roberts spoke last week with Curtis Tate about that effort and his coming retirement.

Tate: I’m just wondering if you have any reflections on that, any thoughts about that effort and the folks who participated?

Roberts: Oh, absolutely. There has never been a more dedicated group of people than those retirees who made the trip to Washington, D.C., lobbying for their pensions and health care. I’ve had senators and House members alike tell me, both Republican and Democrats, by the way, that they never saw a more effective group of people coming on Capitol Hill and lobbying with those camouflage shirts that they wore time and time again to Capitol Hill.

They went for about eight bucks a shot, and when you buy them in mass, they out-lobbied people on K Street that had a $10,000 suit on, so yes, those are the most, they are, and they were the most dedicated people that you ever meet. And I’m, I worry about all of the effort that they put into saving their pensions and health care.

Where we stand with that, everywhere you look, there’s been cuts made, and this billionaire, the richest man on earth telling other people who work for a living, well, we don’t need Social Security. And people say, he never said that. And he said, when you say it’s a Ponzi scheme, you don’t have much faith in Social Security. Social Security is something that people depend on. People have paid into. They deserve to keep it and along with their Medicare and this issue of doing away with Medicaid to people who are the poorest people in the country.

The question it really is to me, is, what kind of nation are we? And I think when we do analysis of that, I think we need to keep Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. I think we need to keep the pensions and health care people have earned in this country. Remember, people work for these benefits, and people pay for these benefits, and they ought to retain them.

Tate: I wanted to ask you about your recent announcement that you’re stepping down later this year. How are you feeling about that?

Roberts: Well, I think the same way most people have been doing something they love for a long time. It’s somewhat mixed emotions, but I’m dealing with reality here, unless I plan on living to 120 now. Is probably the best time to consider retiring. I will miss this job every day, but I also realize that John L. Lewis left here and the union continued to move forward. Mother Jones left the union, and the union continued to move forward.

This union will be fine, because Brian Samson is going to make a great president. I’m proud of the many things that we’ve gotten done here. People talk about this legislation we passed in 2019 for 180,000, probably in that neighborhood, people’s pensions and health care.

I don’t think it’s something that’s been done by anybody else, but back in 1989 during the Pittston strike, the issue on the table in that strike was pensions and health care. They just said they weren’t paying for it anymore, and we ended up winning that strike. And in two years we passed legislation, the first coal act incorporated into the law that 107,000 people would have health care guaranteed by the government.

Then, unbelievably, a few years later, we’re back in the middle of that fight again. So we’ve been fighting here for pensions and health care since I’ve been an officer. Ironically, when I was born in 1946, 15 miles up Cabin Creek Road in a company house, delivered by a company doctor. My dad was on strike for pensions and health care.

Tate: Wow.

Roberts: Yeah, the first 1946 legislation that passed, my dad was striking at that time, and the first day I walked into the district office. It’s an amazing thing. Health care had been cut in July, the first across this country by health retirement funds, and that happened the day I walked in the door in the district. So this has been with me since the day I was born, and I hope that Brian doesn’t have to contend with this anymore, because this is a crowning achievement of the United Mine Workers going all the way back to 1946.

But look, I’m 78 years old. Most people know that I’ve got a form of leukemia that I brought back with me from Vietnam and didn’t know it, and was diagnosed with it about two years ago. I’m in remission now, and I’m thinking, ‘Well, I’m blessed.’ I’ve got my health back and where it should be doing this job as president. For 30 years. I was vice president for 13. I was in vice president district 17 for five and a half years, I worked in a coal mines five and a half years, I was in the army for two years in Vietnam for a year.

I think it’s a career that needs to be in the rearview mirror. More than likely, and most likely, I’ll be available to do anything Brian Samson needs me to do, and I’ll lobby for if he wants me to. I’ll get arrested if he wants me to, I’ll picket if he wants. I’ll do whatever he needs me to do. I’m retiring. I’m not quitting.

Trump Cabinet Nominees Have Connections To W.Va. Interests, Policies

Marshall University associate professor of political science Marybeth Beller spoke with Randy Yohe about her analysis of four Trump cabinet hopefuls and their potential relationship to the Mountain State.

While President Donald Trump’s highest profile cabinet nominees undergo very public confirmation hearings, some of the nominees that will affect West Virginia’s interests are flying a bit under the radar.

Marshall University associate professor of political science Marybeth Beller spoke with Randy Yohe on her analysis of four Trump cabinet hopefuls and their potential relationship to the Mountain State.

This story was lightly edited for clarity

Yohe: Dr. Beller, you took a look at some of the Trump nominees for cabinet positions that would affect West Virginia issues and policy. Talk about your observations?

Beller: West Virginia depends on a lot of federal money for different things. I was particularly interested in looking at Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has been appointed to be the administrator over Medicare and Medicaid. A total of almost 47% of West Virginians are either on Medicaid or Medicare, and so both of these programs are vital to the health care of West Virginians.

I also looked at DHS, because that’s the department that specifically governs TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This is the welfare program that is a big match, a federal match for West Virginia’s West Virginia Works program, which is our version of welfare. Currently, right now, 5,000 West Virginians are on TANF, and so this program is very, very important to their livelihood.

I also looked at food stamps, which are governed by the Department of Agriculture. We have a lot of West Virginians who are currently on food stamps. Food stamps and our forest service are both governed under the Department of Agriculture. Right now, 78% of West Virginia’s land is forested. Seven percent of those are national forests, 9% are state forests. But the policies that are coming out of the Secretary of Agriculture’s office are really going to impact West Virginia. So those were the big things that I looked at first.

Also I looked at FEMA. FEMA is governed by Homeland Security, and West Virginia has been very dependent on FEMA in the past few years for issues like flooding, tornadoes and powerful storms that knock down trees and cause blockages. All these departments are pretty important for us.

Yohe: So let’s go down the line first. Let’s start with the Secretary of Agriculture nominee, Brook Rollins.

Beller: Brook Rollins is an interesting person. She is an attorney by trade. She has been counsel and adviser to (former) Texas Governor Rick Perry, so she has some experience in government. Of particular concern might be her most recent position as president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. She was able to grow this foundation from a very small organization to many, many staffers, and it’s been very successful. But things that the foundation has published might suggest things West Virginians might be concerned about, particularly their latest report on alternative energy concludes that it’s a bad investment for the federal government.

West Virginia, as you know, has been putting a lot of resources into alternative energy, with wind energy, solar and other alternatives. Rollins’ organization is not a proponent of funding renewables. They also have put out a statement, given the wildfires in California, that climate change has no bearing on those wildfires. West Virginia is certainly susceptible to a lot of wildfires, and so that kind of policy conclusion might be damaging for us in the future.

Yohe: For FEMA, which West Virginia relies on often, it’s under the Office of Homeland Security, and the nominee is Kristi Noem.

Beller: Kristi Noem does have good political experience. Noem also very loudly wants to prioritize border security and to shift more resources out of her division into border security. West Virginia, obviously, is not a border state. What we badly need are to have the security of FEMA funds for the next emergency that comes down the pike

Yohe: When it comes to administering Medicare and Medicaid, the nominee is well known, Dr Mehmet Oz.

Beller: He appears to have a few professional qualifications. He has been a surgeon. He was a professor at Columbia University of cardiothoracic surgery. However, the university cut ties with him several years ago because he had been on TV promoting remedies that don’t have scientific support. I’m talking about his referral to medications, specifically to lose weight, along with lots of different gimmicks that really don’t have scientific backing. With all of his claims, it’s a little disheartening, because Medicare and Medicaid are so precious to West Virginia, and Dr. Oz does not have the administrative experience to govern such a large entity.

Yohe: And finally, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the controversial nominee, I think it’s safe to say, for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Beller: He’s very controversial. He says things that don’t have scientific support, and the Department of Human Services is really important to West Virginia because we have such a high rate of poverty here. Over 5,000 West Virginians right now are on TANF, the national welfare program. Our West Virginia version of that is West Virginia Works. The federal government provides funds for 55% of that program, and to have somebody who makes outlandish claims that are not supported by facts is a bit disheartening for me.

Yohe: Is there anything else you want to tell me about these nominees and their relationship to West Virginia that I didn’t ask?

Beller: I think it’s going to be really, really important for our representatives in the Senate and the House to work with the Trump administration to let him know what our state’s needs and priorities are, because an administrator sets the tone and can’t initiate policies. It’s the people who work under that administrator that actually make things happen, and so I think we’re going to need to rely heavily upon our federal representatives from West Virginia to get our needs and wants known.

Local Healthcare Advocates Ask U.S. Senators To Reject RFK Jr.’s Nomination

Local health care advocates asked Senator Shelley Moore Capito and incoming Senator Jim Justice to vote against President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services, RFK Jr.

Local healthcare advocates asked Senator Shelley Moore Capito and incoming Senator Jim Justice to vote against President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services, Robert Kennedy, Jr.

According to Protect Our Care West Virginia, more than 600,000 West Virginia residents rely on at least one federal program for health insurance coverage.

On Friday morning healthcare advocates hosted a virtual discussion opposing Kennedy’s nomination as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary.

They argue he is not qualified for this position, has “radical views” on vaccinations and has not taken a position on Medicare, Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act.

“It is more important than ever that we protect Medicaid, the ACA, Medicare and CHIP,” said Rhonda Rogombe, health policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. “Instead of looking for ways to cut those programs, our leaders should be looking for ways to flex the power they have so that people can be as healthy as possible.”

Neither Capito’s nor Justice’s offices responded to a request for comment on whether they’d support Kennedy’s confirmation.

Sign Up Now For Healthcare Through The ACA

Friday, Nov. 1 is the first day of open enrollment, providing West Virginians the opportunity to enroll in a low-cost health insurance plan through the federal government.

Enrollment for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, Marketplace Plans opened Friday.

West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to high-quality health care in the state, held a press conference this week to encourage more than 100,000 uninsured West Virginians to consider enrolling.

During open enrollment, those not eligible for health insurance through Medicare, Medicaid, or employer-based insurance, may purchase insurance under ACA coverage provisions.

The non-profit’s Executive Director, Ellen Allen, said half of West Virginia’s population could pay as little as $10 monthly for health insurance.

“We want West Virginians to understand the Affordable Care Act is more affordable than it’s ever been with the Inflation Reduction Act passed last year. The enhanced tax credits have made the Affordable Care Act truly affordable for just about every American,” Allen said.

West Virginia’s enrollment in ACA plans has increased by 179 percent since 2020, according to Allen, with more than 51,000 West Virginians enrolling in 2023.

“I think we know that nothing keeps us up at night, nothing keeps West Virginians up at night, like the cost of healthcare, and with the rising cost of food, rent, childcare, too many families are left worrying about how to pay the bills, how to make ends meet, meaningful health care coverage is critical to live a productive, secure and healthy life,” Allen said.

West Virginia is one of 41 states that expanded its Medicaid program eligibility under the ACA in 2014. This expansion included coverage to nearly all adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

According to a 2019 West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services (BMS) report, from 2013 to 2014, Medicaid enrollment increased by more than 50 percent.

“I think it’s important for everyone to understand that the Affordable Care Act also provides for the expansion of Medicaid, which West Virginia adopted under Governor Tomblin, which was just a great move for West Virginia,” Allen said. “It allowed so many more West Virginians to qualify for health care, so the Affordable Care Act provides for that as well.”

West Virginia Navigator is a federally funded nonprofit that provides free help to individuals and families deciding which health coverage options are best for them.

Nicki Bailey, assistant director of West Virginia Navigator, attended Wednesday morning’s press conference and shared resources that her team has to assist anyone trying to sign up for health insurance through the Marketplace, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

“A lot of people find it really intimidating, really confusing, to figure out how to get health insurance on their own, and that’s where West Virginia Navigator comes in,” Bailey said. “We’re able to help through the whole process and make it as seamless and as easy as possible.”

Also at the press conference, Rusty Williams, an ACA advocate and cancer survivor spoke about his experience being diagnosed with late-stage testicular cancer in 2012.

He said when he should have been focused on treatment, he was thrown headfirst into a financial fight for his life.

“I had just had the news dropped on me that I needed emergency surgery for a really gnarly bout with cancer, and then the first thing they want me to sort out is the finances,” Williams said. “It was the most terrifying situation I had ever been in my entire life. I don’t ever think that I’ve ever been in a position where I felt that hopeless. But I spent the next six weeks fighting trying to get coverage. I should have been fighting cancer.”

Williams explained that he was diagnosed with cancer before the ACA had been implemented, so people could still be discriminated against for having a preexisting condition.

“I was fighting bureaucrats, and after the third time I was denied, I had to have the most difficult conversation with my family that I could imagine,” Williams said. “I literally had to call a meeting in with my family and tell them, ‘Hey, they gave me months to live. This is what it is, right? We got four months. Let’s make it good.’ Fortunately, my mother was not about to accept that. She kept making calls and reaching out to anybody that would listen.”

Williams said he was then put into contact with the James “Tiger” Morton Catastrophic Illness Commission, a state program, administered through the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Human Services (DH).

The West Virginia Legislature created the program in 1999 as “a last resort for those in dire need of medical assistance during a life-threatening illness once all other resources are exhausted.” The Commission was able to secure the health coverage Williams needed.

Shortly after he found financial assistance from the state, the first tiers of the ACA were implemented federally and Williams said his situation completely changed.

“I was able to get the life-saving treatment that I needed, and I’m a firm believer that were it not for the Affordable Care Act, and were it not for the Medicaid expansion, I would not be here today,” Williams said. “So you know, on behalf of all the West Virginians, all the Mountaineers that found themselves in my position I can’t speak highly enough for the Affordable Care Act and what it did to me. I’m just happy to be here and happy to still be able to advocate for patients.”

Williams ran as a Democrat for a Kanawha County seat in the House of Delegates in 2022 but lost to Del. Andy Shamblin, R-Kanawha. Williams currently serves as an Advocacy Specialist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of West Virginia.

Open Enrollment will officially end on Jan. 15, 2025, but those seeking coverage as of Jan. 1, 2025, must enroll by Dec. 15, 2024.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

Patriotic Societies In Schools And Teen Parents Covered In House Bill Proposals

In the House of Delegates on Wednesday, eight bills on third reading were advanced to the Senate. The list includes bills that help provide for pregnant and parenting teen mothers and fathers, getting dentures while on Medicaid, and patriotic societies recruiting in West Virginia schools.

There were some not so obvious reasons for proposing House Bill 4863, the Patriotic Access to Students in Schools Act. The bill provides patriotic societies the opportunity to speak and recruit at public schools.

The question was, what patriotic societies can recruit in West Virginia schools? The lengthy list of patriotic societies is defined in Title 36 of the U.S. Code and includes groups such as Little League Baseball, Future Farmers of America and the Boy and Girl Scouts. It all sounds benign, but WVPB was told there are challenges from many West Virginia school principals.

Del. Rick Hillenbrand, R-Hampshire, and a long time Boy Scout leader, said the issue for some school principals was not who is on the federally approved list, but one of convenience, or perhaps inconvenience.

“I think honestly, it’s a fear that the principals typically have with regards to ‘Gee, if I let this group in, am I going to have to let every group in?’” Hillenbrand said. “Something the U.S. government dealt with a long time ago with Title 36. So there really doesn’t need to be that fear.”

The bill passed 95-0

House Bill 4933 makes it so dentures are not counted toward the $1,000 yearly limit provided by the Medicaid program for diagnostic preventive and restorative dental service. With the measure, an adult 21 years or older would be able to purchase dentures without it counting against their Medicaid dental coverage. The bill passed 94-0.

House Bill 5179 creates “Jaycie’s Law,” offering support for middle and high school young women who get pregnant, and young women and men who become parents. The bill provides at least eight weeks of excused absences for a mother for the birth of the student’s child. It offers two weeks excused absence for the father of the child, and medical and academic support for both. Jaycie’s Law passed 96-0.

W.Va. Ranks Among Best At Connecting Residents With Substance Use Treatment

In 2023, West Virginia ranked fourth highest in the United States for initiating and treating substance use disorder in residents with the condition. The data was collected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

In 2023, West Virginia was one of the most effective states at connecting residents with substance or alcohol use disorders to treatment, according to federal health officials.

At 52.1 percent, West Virginia had the fourth highest percentage of individuals with substance or alcohol dependencies who began and received treatment last year out of 45 participating states and U.S. territories.

This data was compiled by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that oversees federal healthcare systems. Each year, the agency aggregates data on a variety of state-level health resources and outcomes.

Treatments for substance use disorders include medication, counseling, rehabilitation services and behavioral health resources, according to a Wednesday press release from the West Virginia Department of Human Services (DoHS).

“Our commitment to providing diverse and effective treatment options is reflected in the improved outcomes we have achieved,” said Cindy Beane, commissioner of the DoHS Bureau for Medical Services, in the press release.

“West Virginia’s commitment to providing evidence-based practices is being recognized nationally and modeled in other states,” she said.

The DoHS credits the state’s strong CMS score to an increase in substance use disorder treatments offered to West Virginia Medicaid members.

This followed the 2017 implementation of substance use disorder waivers for Medicaid users with substance dependencies, which allowed them to access free treatments.

“Overcoming a substance use disorder is not as simple as resisting the temptation to take drugs,” said Christina Mullins, DoHS deputy secretary of mental health and substance use disorders, said in the press release.

“Like many other chronic conditions, effective treatment options are available for SUD,” she said. “While no single treatment method is right for everyone, recovery is possible, and help is available.”

As of November 2023, 34 states and the District of Columbia offered similar waivers for residents with substance use disorders.

At a press briefing Wednesday, Gov. Jim Justice thanked DoHS staff for supporting substance use disorder treatments across the state. He also emphasized his ongoing investment in programs addressing substance use disorders in West Virginia.

“We’re making a dent. We’ve got a long way to go,” he said. “There are a lot of folks that are taking advantage and getting some real help, and getting their lives turned and going in the right direction.”

“We’re making a difference,” Justice continued.