West Virginia
Gutting Medicaid will take health care away from hardworking West Virginia families • West Virginia Watch
As the largest health insurance program in the country, providing health care to more than 70 million people, Medicaid is an essential pillar of our health care system.
The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid to cover more working Americans who do not make enough to afford private coverage. Now, 40 states, both red and blue, have expanded it, saving lives, keeping hospitals open, saving states money and improving the well-being of countless Americans.
Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and the states, and it is supported by 76% of Americans. It covers one in five Americans, including kids, moms, seniors, people of color, rural Americans and people with disabilities.
Every family knows someone who relies on Medicaid.
In West Virginia, 516,500 of our friends, family members and neighbors are covered by Medicaid — that includes:
- 49,000 seniors
- 196,000 children
- 86,000 people with disabilities
So, why are Republicans in Congress planning to slash trillions from Medicaid to hand out $4.6 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthy?
Republicans in Congress are submitting three proposals that would dramatically reduce federal funding for Medicaid: block grants, per capita caps and reducing Medicaid matching rates. Currently, the federal government pays between 50% and 77% of enrollees’ Medicaid costs, and more for certain high-value services.
These proposals would blow at least a $235 million hole in West Virginia’s state budget and leave tens of thousands of people uninsured.
Medicaid also helps fund rural hospitals by ensuring more patients can pay for their care. Rural hospitals in Medicaid expansion states, like West Virginia, are 62% less likely to close. In 2023, over 600 rural hospitals were at risk of closing, almost all of which were within non-expansion states. If Congress cuts Medicaid expansion, more rural hospitals will be forced to close their doors.
Medicaid is the single largest payer for long-term care, maternity care and mental health services. Nearly a third of adults have received maternity care, home health care, or nursing home care through Medicaid. Nearly one in five adults nationwide struggling with mental illness have access to care through Medicaid. If Congress has its way, millions of Americans will lose access to essential care.
Congress is also considering imposing so-called work requirements; however, research shows that work reporting requirements cost states money and do not improve people’s ability to find work.
A large majority of adult Medicaid beneficiaries who can work already do. According to a 2024 analysis, over 80% of working-age adults on Medicaid were working, acting as family caregivers or attending school.
Proposals that require individuals to regularly document and report hours worked or in school cause eligible people to fall through the cracks. Arkansas, the only state to implement Medicaid work reporting requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries, saw one in four of those subjected to the reporting requirement lose health coverage within six months.
Researchers found that this loss of coverage was generally not because people were unable to comply with the work requirement, but that they found the reporting process itself — the bureaucratic red tape — to be confusing and difficult to comply with, or they were unaware of the requirements altogether. Of those who lost their health coverage due to the work reporting requirements in Arkansas, half reported serious problems paying medical bills, 56% delayed addressing health care needs due to cost, and 64% delayed receiving needed medications.
So, what does all this mean? Fewer dollars mean fewer resources for low-income families, people with disabilities, pregnant women and others who rely on Medicaid for health coverage. The state’s going to lose funding for all those people who lose coverage. Even though these poorer states spend less per resident on Medicaid, their federal reimbursement rate is relatively high, and so the impact of federal cuts is large.
Gutting Medicaid will take health care away from hardworking families across West Virginia, instead of helping them — they deserve better, and it is within our power to do so.
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West Virginia
Community Catalyst Grant applications are open through West Virginia First Foundation through June 30 – WV MetroNews
The West Virginia First Foundation, which was established to use drug lawsuit settlement money to try to alleviate problems related to addiction, reported having access to $378.5 million in financial resources and noted that more than $34 million in grants have been awarded since the organization’s start.
The West Virginia First Foundation met for a few minutes Thursday at Ascend West Virginia in Charleston. The meeting was also available for view through streaming.
Executive Director Jonathan Board highlighted the launch of the Community Catalyst Grant application and a statewide needs assessment intended to identify service gaps.
Designed as a three-year, outcomes-driven investment, the program will support projects focused on public safety response, day report centers and generational prevention efforts. The program opened for applications on June 1 and remains open through June 30.
“We’re very encouraged by the interest and engagement so far,” Board said.
The board also approved a $4 million funding request for the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. The project is focused on expanding access to innovative addiction treatment and recovery support tools while building the technology and infrastructure needed to support implementation across West Virginia.
Additional details about the project and funding agreement are to be released in the coming weeks following the completion of final documentation. West Virginia First Foundation and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute plan to issue a joint announcement once the agreement process is complete.
“They’ve gone through a very rigorous process for the correct funding,” Board said. “Their team has presented an opportunity to fund a project that will build technology, training and support systems of care needed to expand access to an innovative addiction treatment approach throughout the state of West Virginia, and really beyond.”
The West Virginia First Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2023 to manage and distribute 72.5% of the state’s opioid settlement funds, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The organization is aimed at combatting the addiction crisis through grants and regional projects.
The next regular meeting of the Foundation’s Board of Directors is scheduled for Sept. 17 although it’s subject to change.
West Virginia may have come up empty-handed in two tries against North Carolina in the College World Series, but they earned the respect of their head coach, Scott Forbes, who was incredibly complimentary of the Mountaineers following Wednesday’s game.
“I want to congratulate West Virginia. A heck of a team, a heck of a run,” he opened his postgame press conference with. “They are very well coached. They just play the game the right way. It’s a credit to their coaching staff. They come at you a lot of ways. A lot of speed, deep pitching staff, so we really had to work in those two games to beat them. I’ve been in their shoes, and I know what that feels like, and it’s a stinker. But man, they got a lot to be proud of, and they should be extremely proud of how they represented their university.”
The culture at WVU is as strong as it gets
Multiple times this season, West Virginia looked like they were well on their way to a loss and were rewarded with a win because they never stopped playing hard. Everyone thinks of the two games against Kentucky in the Morgantown Regional, and rightfully so, but they also came back to win after trailing by eight against UCF and after trailing by five to BYU.
For a moment, there was a belief that the magical moment was going to come again during Wednesday’s game against Forbes’ Tar Heels. With two outs in the 7th and trailing 12-1, Armani Guzman busted his tail down the first base line to beat out a grounder to short. It ultimately led to a five-run inning for the Mountaineers, all of a sudden turning a laugher into a semi-interesting game. Gavin Kelly hit a solo home run in the 8th to make it a five-run deficit, and in the ninth, Ben Lumsden just missed a three-run shot that would have really put pressure on North Carolina, even with two outs.
To have your team still playing hard when trailing by 11 with their season likely about to come to an end, it says a lot about the character of this group, but also how deeply ingrained the culture is at WVU. There’s a reason this program has turned the corner over the last 14 or so years and is continuing to trend up. They’ve had the right people in place leading it.
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West Virginia
Proposed 107.5-mile transmission line could leave W.Va. ratepayers on hook for $440M-$900M
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — A 107.5-mile transmission line project has been proposed, the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link, which would cut through parts of West Virginia to ultimately help power Virginia’s data center hub since there is not enough generation locally to serve them.
“Virginia gets the power and West Virginia gets the towers,” Del Chris Anders said. “What they did is they look west and said, hey, we’ll just use West Virginia but we’ll get this power and we’ll run this big extension cord. I’m all for exporting power from West Virginia. We are a power production state, but I’m not going to do so out of the wallets of West Virginians and allowing their property to be taken.”
During the 2026 legislative session, lawmakers put a bill on the table which was aimed at giving the state access to utilize these lines, but nothing made it to the finish line.
“We said, ‘Okay, if you’re going to run them through, you have to drop substations in West Virginia and by the way, West Virginia ratepayers will only pay for the amount of energy that stays within our state,’” Anders said.
A second line is also up for discussion. Valley Link Transmission hasn’t finalized any routes yet, but it would consist of 260 miles of transmission line and would add two substations between Frederick County, Maryland, and Putnam County.
With both of these lines, the main concern surrounding the proposals is who exactly is expected to foot the bill and whether or not it will ultimately fall back on West Virginia ratepayers.
“We’re going to be on the hook for anywhere between $440 million to over $900 million on both lines,” Anders said.
Lawmakers said those price tags continue to increase.
“At least for the MARL line, they went back to the grid operator, PJM, and said, ‘It’s going to cost significantly more money than it originally thought. Those estimates of the cost to West Virginia ratepayers are only going to go up,’” Del. Evan Hansen said.
These projects have gained bipartisan opposition. This is all beginning when representatives for these energy companies brought these proposals to lawmakers in January, noting that these lines would strengthen the entire grid.
But many lawmakers were not convinced, asking why they should support it if West Virginia has no direct benefit.
“It would increase our electric rates and private property owners might be faced with giving up their land or having their property values decline,” Hansen said.
It’s not only state officials voicing opposition. Public hearings have been held in the northern counties where community members shared their concerns with these projects that could go right through their backyards.
“We did hear from construction workers and electrical workers about the jobs, but otherwise it was uniformly against the construction of the project,” Hansen said.
An evidentiary hearing for MARL’s permit application will be held by the Public Service Commission on Oct. 26.
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