Health Care – Insulin Bill & Others Needs Your Help!

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By Kim Jones, Coordinator, Health Care for All WV

URGENT! The Insulin Bill is in trouble! Can you help?

HB 2430 is a bill to lower the cost of insulin and diabetic supplies for people with health insurance. The proper supplies and insulin can literally extend the lives of diabetics by a decade or two. This means so much to our state because West Virginia has the highest rate of deaths due to diabetes in the country.

Last year, the bill got caught up in the ongoing PEIA crisis, and after passing both the Senate and House still died because of an amendment added at the last minute. How many people in the past 12 months needed that relief in the cost of this medicine and supplies?

Lawmakers in Kentucky and Maryland have already passed these much needed protections for their citizens.

Insulin-dependent diabetics will die without insulin. Even if they scrape by rationing their medicine so they can pay their bills and extremely expensive food prices, they can lose limbs, or their eyesight or kidney function without proper affordable care. How many people can afford to wait another year to see if the Legislature will finally take them seriously?

Please read this oped by Douglas Anderson about why we can’t wait another year.
Take action to let your lawmakers know that this bill is important to you and your loved ones.
Contact House Health Committee Chair Delegate Amy Summers (R) Taylor Co. and ask her to put it on her committee’s agenda! 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!
Contact Senate Health Committee Chair Senator Mike Maroney and ask him to do the right thing and put the Senate companion bill SB 577 on the agenda!

Dental Care is Health Care! And we can get more coverage for more West Virginians!

We are hoping to see some movement this week on SB 269, which would raise the Medicaid Dental Benefit from $1,000 to $2,000 a year for adult recipients. We believe dental and vision health are inseparable, and poor dental health can be deadly. Click here to find out more. The bill passed the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee unanimously and is now in the Senate Finance Committee.

Please click on this link and let your lawmakers know that you support better dental health for the folks of this state!

For those of you who are looking for a dentist in your area that takes the adult Medicaid dental benefit, Health Care for All created this interactive map to help.

“I would rather have a live daughter than a dead son, and this bill puts that at risk”

HB 2007 Anti-Trans Bill has passed out of the House and into the Senate. This bill will deny gender-affirming care for trans youth in West Virginia. We have the highest rate of trans youth in the country. And they are under attack. Testimony after testimony of physicians, psychologists, and impacted people were ignored by the majority of the House when only 11 House Members chose to hear them and be educated on this disastrous bill. Listen to a mother sharing her grave fears for her child

If you want to know more about the bill and what it will do to some of our most vulnerable young people here is the link to the whole hearing. HB 2007 Hearing on Anti-Trans bill

Please contact your senators and ask them to say NO to HB 2007.

How can we help keep more working West Virginians covered under Medicaid?

HB 3274, and the Senate companion bill SB 610, could be the answer!

The Affordable Medicaid Buy-In Program proposal directs the state government to take maximum advantage of federal dollars to create new more affordable health insurance options for lower wage West Virginians. Federal funds would fully cover the cost of the program. Workers who enroll will receive health insurance similar to what Medicaid provides them today, using the same Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) who administer Medicaid and/or using other private insurance carriers. In this way, the new plans would provide a “bridge” to help workers cross the Medicaid cliff and continue on a path to economic independence.

The new plan options would have low or no deductible, modest copayments, and no or lower premiums than offered today. Provider reimbursement rates would be higher than Medicaid rates. West Virginians who see their incomes rise would be able to stay on with their insurer, providers, and pharmacies at an affordable cost.

It is a win-win solution that helps consumers and providers while not adding to the state budget!

Click for Article on the Affordable Medicaid Buy-In

We will continue to update you on these and other bills that affect the health of families in our state! Please get involved! West Virginians need help now! You can help us get these bills across the finish line!