Good News on Insulin, Medicaid Buy-In Bills; Take Action to Stop Campus Carry

By Kim Jones

Insulin Bill Passes Senate Health! 

After four years of trying to get affordable insulin and diabetic supplies to the long-overburdened diabetics in West Virginia, 2023 might be the year that it becomes a reality. Last year the bill passed both the House and Senate, but was tied up in the PEIA crisis and failed to pass the last day of  the 2022 Legislative Session. 

Besides the obvious toll on human health and the financial burden to families, the impact on the economy of West Virginia is also considerable. Please click here for a resource from our friends at the WVU Health Sciences Center on how the cost of diabetes impacts the state.

This bill has been a long time coming. West Virginians need this relief! The bill should be voted on this week in the Senate. Please contact your Senators and tell them that diabetics in WV can’t wait another year! 

Thank you to Senator Mike Maroney who got the senate companion bill SB 577 introduced and to all of the Senators who sponsored the bill. Let’s get it passed out of the Senate quickly and over to the House. 

Contact House Health Committee Chair Delegate Amy Summers (R) Taylor Co. and ask her to move quickly to get the bill passed when it comes to the House! The sooner we get it on the agenda the more time we will have to get it passed. If your delegate is on the Health Committee, contact them as well to show your support!

Relief from Crippling Health Insurance Costs for Low-Income Workers Passes House Health!

We are very excited to see the Affordable Medicaid Buy-In bill moving! This bill would be a life-saver for so many families who struggle to pay for high-priced insurance with low-wage jobs! As more and more legislators are being educated on this important new plan, more are signing on as sponsors! 

Please click here to read an article from Mountain State Spotlight on this exciting new bill!

Is arming college students in an era of unprecedented gun violence in schools safe for our students, staff and communities?

As someone from Huntington, who used to work in the public school system, gun violence in schools has never been far from my mind. I have had to take “Stop the Bleed” training in case a gunman came into my preschool class and I had to try to save someone’s life. I have had to worry about my own child, not only being in danger, but having to learn at 5 years old that someone with a gun could come into school and hurt them. The impact of these school shootings have left us all heartbroken and afraid. It has changed our country, our schools, our sense that our loved ones are safe. The statistics are hard to believe. 

I know dozens of students and staff at Marshall University, some are my friends, some my students, some are kids I have watched grow up since they were in kindergarten. I can’t see how arming students, some only weeks out of high school, is going to do anything but increase the risk to life and health in my hometown. Besides the risk of violence, there are the terrible statistics on suicide among this age group. 

Please read this op-ed. Consider the unacceptable cost this bill could make us face. And take action! 

This bill is likely to pass the legislature TODAY! If so Governor Justice will be the deciding vote. Contact him and ask him to VETO! Let him know that this bill isn’t worth the losses we might very well face if young people who can’t yet be trusted to drink a beer at their age are allowed to be armed on campus.