Healthcare Under Fire: They Said No One Calls. Let’s Flood the Lines.
By Mindy Holcomb, WV CAG Healthcare Organizer
This year, we’ve had to focus on defending West Virginians from the attacks on our health and healthcare systems.
Bills aimed at weakening vaccination requirements in West Virginia would have put everyone at risk of contracting preventable and deadly diseases. Fortunately, because of efforts from our members and many others in the state, those efforts were defeated, and West Virginia maintains one of the highest rates of childhood vaccinations in the country.
The “trigger bill,” which would have cut anyone who became eligible for Medicaid during the Medicaid expansion off of their insurance, was also defeated. This bill would have been triggered if the federal government had cut Medicaid funding even by a penny. As our press conference outside of House chambers was happening, where people, hospitals, and healthcare workers who would have been affected by cuts were speaking, the bill was pulled from the floor.
However, we are still facing cuts at the federal level. We don’t know when the final budget will be
voted upon, but we must keep the phone lines to Capito and Justice’s offices HOT! They claim they don’t hear from their constituents on these issues. We need to prove them wrong.
They have already voted to advance a budget plan that would require $880 billion in cuts over the next decade, largely to Medicaid. But we can still stop the GOP plan to take health care away from West Virginians.
Our people, our rural hospitals, our nursing homes, and our services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities all depend on Medicaid. If rural hospitals close, we lose those jobs; if people lose their insurance, they risk death from preventable and controllable conditions.
Call and call often! Tell them not to accept any budget that includes any cuts to Medicaid or SNAP!
