Latest news with #HouseCommitteeonHealthandHumanResources
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Planned PEIA rate increases elicit concern from lawmakers and policyholders
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) – Hundreds of thousands of West Virginians with PEIA coverage are set to see rate increases in the coming months. With increases of up to 16% in premiums expected to impact certain West Virginia residents as early as July according to PEIA, members of the general public along with state lawmakers have voiced concerns regarding the coverage provider. While many say a change is in order, no one can seem to agree on how to appropriately address financial concerns associated with the program. 'We keep doing things that they tell us is going to fix the problem and then it ends up not fixing the problem,' Delegate Eric Brooks told 59News. 'We'll see what the options are when we get back down there. I think the governor is really pushing for a Special Session to deal with this before January when we have our next legislative session.' A bill introduced during the most recent session of the West Virginia Legislature – House Bill 2623 – would abolish PEIA altogether, though some detractors have characterized the legislation as reckless. The bill was under consideration by the House Committee on Health and Human Resources at the time the most recent legislative session was brought to a close. Governor Patrick Morrisey told 59News he has been working with the legislature to address issues with PEIA, citing an overall need for fiscal responsibility on the state level. 'We have a lot of tough challenges ahead. I've mentioned that we have PEIA that'll be coming up in the upcoming months,' said Morrisey. 'We've been diligently working on that and are starting to have conversations with the legislature. We want to get that right because we have to make sure that we help West Virginia reach her potential.' Several delegates have said they expect to be called in for a session to address PEIA specifically, and the governor says he hopes to address the issue in the coming months, though an official call for a Special Session of the legislature has yet to be made at this time. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mother of 5 kids and WV doctor: Consider risks of Senate Bill 460
A child under 12 years old receives a vaccine Jan. 18, 2022 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. (Pedro Vilela | Getty Images) Recently, I testified before the West Virginia House Committee on Health and Human Resources about Senate Bill 460 which would weaken our childhood immunization laws for child care and school entry. West Virginia has long been a national champion in ensuring that our child care and school entry immunization laws remain strong. Naming all of the benefits of ensuring these policies remain in place would have pushed me over the 3-5 minutes I was allotted for my testimony. I would like to supplement my testimony to the West Virginia legislators and others who are following this bill with this editorial. Our immunization policies help maintain our robust herd immunity to protect those who are vulnerable. When the argument is made that if one immunizes, they shouldn't have anything to worry about if someone else doesn't is faulty. My kids attend school in West Virginia. One of their classmates was diagnosed with congenital neutropenia. This disease makes her susceptible to bacterial illnesses. It is imperative that those around her are immunized so that she remains protected when attending school. She is one example of numerous immunocompromised children that attend private and public schools in West Virginia who need and deserve protection. Thank you to her mom for allowing me to share her story. On a personal note, a relative in my family recently returned to school and obtained her nursing degree. She is now a nurse working in West Virginia. Despite receiving the immunization, she is unable to generate an immune response to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. She is on the medical front lines caring for our community's sickest, and our herd immunity is the strongest protection she has against measles, mumps, and rubella. Thank you to my relative for allowing me to share her story. Similarly, our teachers who are caring for our kids and starting families of their own need protection when they are pregnant. Pregnant women who are not immune against rubella due to waning immunity or an inability to generate an immune response to immunization are vulnerable to passing rubella to their unborn infants. In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 32,000 children were born with congenital rubella. About 33% of infants with congenital rubella die before their first birthday. Since the start of 2025, three of five states that border West Virginia have reported measles cases — Kentucky, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Last year, measles did find its way to West Virginia. Due to the efforts of our public health officials in disease containment and contact tracing as well as our current immunization policy for school and child care entry, our one case of measles remained just one case. Our modern day travel capabilities make everyone a target for diseases like measles appearing in our communities. If we let our guard down, it will make us susceptible to more cases and potential outbreaks. A measles outbreak is something that West Virginia cannot afford. And I mean this from a standpoint that we cannot afford the money and manpower it would take to contain and manage an outbreak. Most of all, we cannot afford to risk death and disability to those living in our great state. Finally, Texas is reeling from the death of a child from measles. This was a rude awakening by many that children in fact can die from measles. Now is not the time to let our guard down. What I love about West Virginia is how we can come together as a state when a neighbor or loved one experiences hardships. We do not want to come together and mourn the loss of a child from a terrible disease such as measles knowing that their death could have been prevented. I am asking our legislators to think about the ones already born and the ones yet to be born. I am asking our legislators to understand that schools and child care settings are high-risk settings, and that our day care workers, teachers, school staff and children across West Virginia need the best protection against terrible diseases that are easily transmissible but preventable through immunization. Children in West Virginia are precious and deserve a chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Senate Bill 460 puts their chance at risk. It is not a risk worth taking. I ask that our legislators reject changes to our current immunization requirements for child care and school entry. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Morrisey hopeful for CON repeal in WV, denies claims that he tried to ‘force' votes in committee
Del. Scot Heckert, R-Wood, asks questions during public testimony on House Bill 2007 on Feb. 20. The bill, as it was proposed, would have eliminated certificate of need laws in West Virginia. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) Despite a defeat in the House Committee on Health and Human Resources this week, Gov. Patrick Morrisey remains hopeful that some sort of repeal for Certificate of Need will be adopted by lawmakers this legislative session. In a news briefing Friday, Morrisey said that he expects to see 'a lot more activity' on the policy in coming days. While the end product may not be 'perfect' or exactly what the governor wants, Morrisey said there are still 'really good policies' that are being looked at. A bill in the Senate that would repeal CON is still moving through the Legislature and could be brought up for consideration by the Senate Health Committee at any time. 'People declare things dead very early when things are not dead,' Morrisey said in response to a question from Ogden Newspapers' Steven Allen Adams. '… It's the nature of the process, right? That you have things that maybe you ask for and you get 90% of it. Let's not confuse perfect with really good. And so we're looking at really good policies. It may not be everything that is perfect, but we're going to make meaningful progress.' CON is a regulatory process, overseen by the West Virginia Health Care Authority, that requires entities looking to create or expand health care services in the state to receive a legal document proving those new services fit an unmet need in the area. Through the Health Care Authority, those interested in obtaining a Certificate of Need receive technical assistance before applying to see what need they are meeting. Services are approved through a needs methodology and different services — such as hospice care, ambulatory centers, clinics, private practices and specialty services — have different methodologies. During his State of the State address, Morrisey called the process 'big government activism at its worst' and promised that by repealing it, the state would 'move toward the free market.' It's unclear, however, how much support exists among lawmakers on the policy push for CON repeal. Morrisey said Friday that he believes 'a majority' of Republicans — who hold supermajorities in both the House and the Senate — support policies that he says will lower health care costs and improve free market competition for health services in the state. 'We're in a position to make good changes that put our citizens first and make sure that competition occurs and that we have lower prices and we don't have what we have now: higher prices and the worst health care outcomes,' Morrisey said. 'We should all be focusing on those terrible healthcare outcomes to make progress, because it sickens me to be 50 and we are going to move.' There is no West Virginia-specific data showing that repealing CON in the state — where the population is declining and where 75% of people are government payers, meaning they are insured through Medicare, Medicaid or the Public Employees Insurance Agency — would accomplish such goals. And the total elimination of CON has, historically, been a hard sell to West Virginia legislators. The bill has been introduced annually in the House since 2017. The 2022 regular session was the first time it made it to a committee agenda. That year, after a grueling five hour debate and discussion, lawmakers on the House Health Committee voted it down 12-10. Monday was the second time in nine years that the bill made it to committee and the second time it was voted down, as the current members of the House Health Committee voted 13-12 against House Bill 2007. Later in that meeting, the body doubled down on that vote by voting against a motion to reconsider the initial vote on the bill. Procedurally, that refusal means that specific bill will not be able to be brought up again in that committee. 'Obviously, the house has one set of issues. And we respect that people have different opinions, but I do believe that we need competition, and we're going to be advancing it through different means,' Morrisey said. He did not specify what 'different means' entailed, though later in his comments Morrisey said that there were 'tools available' to the executive branch that could be used to help drive health care competition in the state. There were murmurs after the defeat in committee that House Republican leadership was going to attempt to discharge the bill, bringing it straight to a floor vote and sidestepping the committee process. A motion to do such, however, has yet to happen. And other rumors circulated in the rotunda this week, as well, regarding how Morrisey and members of his staff were handling the cacophony of 'no' votes in House Health against his efforts to repeal CON. Del. Scot Heckert, R-Wood, said on the Charleston Gazette-Mail's Outside the Echo Chamber podcast on Wednesday that Morrisey and those working for him were trying to 'force' votes in favor of CON repeal this week. Heckert, a member of the House Health Committee, voted against HB 2007 and has been a vocal critic of repeal efforts. '[Completely repealing CON] is one of the governor's priority bills, but the governor is trying to, for lack of better words, force people to vote his way just because it's his way and sending people around, pulling people out of committees to talk to them, to try to get them to switch their vote — we've gotten off to a bad start,' Heckert said. 'Now hopefully we've learned from this lesson. Hopefully something can be done, but who knows. When you start telling people what to do 'or else' – especially West Virginia people – that doesn't go very well.' Heckert's allegations were echoed by other lawmakers who also sit on House Health after Monday's meeting. Morrisey on Friday denied those claims, saying he was not going to 'get distracted' by people who don't support policies he believes will improve the state. He called such people 'outliers' who 'don't speak for their districts' or who are 'opposed to President Trump.' 'They're not part of the team. I get that, so I'm not going to worry about that,' Morrisey said. 'We're going to advance an agenda, and we're going to do it working with the vast majority of the Legislature that supports good changes.'
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
WV House committee considers ‘Make America Healthy Again' bill restricting SNAP purchases
Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, the lead sponsor of a bill that would prohibit the purchase of soft drinks and candy with SNAP benefits, speaks to the House Committee on Health and Human Resources Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, in Charleston, (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) A West Virginia House of Delegates committee is considering legislation that would prohibit recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, from using their benefits to purchase soft drinks and candy. House Bill 2350, and similar legislation around the country, is part of an effort promoted by the Trump administration and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to 'Make America Healthy Again.' The bill was before the Committee on Health and Human Resources for a hearing on Tuesday. It would require the cabinet secretary for the Department of Human Services to request a federal waiver to prohibit the purchase of candy and soft drinks with SNAP benefits. If the waiver is not granted, the bill says the secretary would ask for such a waiver annually until the waiver is granted. Bill sponsor Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, said the legislation is meant to promote healthy options for SNAP recipients. More than 144,000 West Virginia households got SNAP benefits in December 2024, according to the state Bureau for Family Assistance. Opponents of the bill say the legislation would have a negative effect on the state's grocery stories, particularly in counties that border other states. Facing restrictions in West Virginia, SNAP recipients who live near the state's borders are likely to drive across state lines to use their benefits, said Seth DiStefano, policy outreach director for the Center on Budget and Policy. 'The direct result — long story short, is that grocery stores close,' he said. 'And grocery stores closing is very bad for the health of an entire community. Food deserts get worse. Options become less.' Restrictions and 'poverty shaming' won't improve health, he said. 'The only real impact so far as I could tell is that it's going to put a lot of folks in those border counties, it's going to give them a choice,' DiStefano said. 'Do I want to sit in line and be embarrassed when I get into a back and forth with a cashier who may not have coded something correctly with my kid in line? Or do I take my business across the river to Gallipolis or Belpre or Steubenville or Hagerstown or any myriad of towns where folks just simply don't have to deal with the administrative hassle and the increased embarrassment and stigma that a bill like this puts on them?' Burkhammer responded to concerns about the bill's economic impact by saying that poor health has an economic impact as well. 'I would say that there is a continued economic negative impact if we continue to fuel childhood diabetes, diabetes and so forth with that,' he said. 'So I understand that concept and I understand we're a body that has to consider the financial impact on every decision almost that we make and this is one of those that I was willing to make that financial decision to say the health and the wellbeing of our state and our communities is greater than the financial risk that is potential.' He added that SNAP recipients still have the option to purchase candy and soft drinks with their own money. Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, raised concerns about the definition of candy and soft drinks in the bill. According to the bill, soft drinks are 'nonalcoholic beverages that contain natural or artificial sweeteners. Soft drinks do not include beverages containing milk or milk products, soy, rice or similar milk substitutes or greater than 50% of vegetable or fruit juice by volume. Candy, according to the bill, means 'a preparation of sugar, honey or other natural or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops or pieces.' It does not include any preparation containing flour and does not require refrigeration. Burkhammer said a forthcoming committee substitute would allow the cabinet secretary to define candy and soft drinks. The bill did not include a cost estimate as of Wednesday. Kennedy suggested banning soda and candy purchases by the SNAP program during an interview last week with Fox News, Forbes reported. 'The one place that I would say that we need to really change policy is the SNAP program and food stamps and in school lunches,' Kennedy told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. 'There, the federal government in many cases is paying for it. And we shouldn't be subsidizing people to eat poison.' The bill and others like it around the country are supported by the Opportunity Solutions Project, a partner organization to the conservative group Foundation for Government Accountability. Jeremiah Samples, the former deputy secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Resources who is now a lobbyist for the Opportunity Solutions Project, spoke in support of the legislation. '[The bill] really starts a dialogue between the states and the federal government, which we now have a partner in the Trump administration to really address these issues to tackle what everyone knows and recognizes is a major problem in what is called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,' he said. 'Nutrition. We have lost the nutrition part of the SNAP program.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
