Health care advocates in West Virginia say proposals to cut trillions of dollars in federal funding for Medicaid would, among other things, close rural hospitals and worsen the state’s maternal and infant health care “crisis.”
Protect Our Care, a national nonprofit organization that works to protect Americans’ health care, hosted Friday’s press conference with representatives from West Virginians for Affordable Care and Planned Parenthood.
Accordingly Health policy research organization KFFRepublicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are considering policy changes to cut $2.3 trillion from the federal Medicaid budget. The proposals include making Medicaid a flat-grant program, reducing federal matching amounts, capping the amount of spending per person and setting work requirements for the health program.
“These proposals would drain an estimated $235 million from West Virginia’s state budget and leave tens of thousands of people without insurance,” Ellen Allen, executive director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, said Friday.
As of OctoberMore than 472,000 West Virginians were enrolled in Medicaid. The joint state and federal health care program covers 72 million Americans. The federal government currently pays about 74% of state spending on Medicaid. according to KFF.
Drew Galang, a spokesman for West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, said Friday the governor is still reviewing items in the state budget, which he said faces a $400 million deficit, and has not offered any specific proposals.
Allen said Medicaid helps fund West Virginia’s rural hospitals by helping ensure patients can pay for their care. Rural hospitals in states that expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act are less likely to close, she said. If Congress cuts Medicaid expansion, more rural hospitals would be forced to close, she said.
“Defunding Medicaid will deprive, rather than help, health care from hard-working families across West Virginia,” Allen said. “You deserve better. We deserve better. It is within our power to do this.”
Kaylen Payne, health policy analyst at Planned Parenthood, said if Medicaid funding were cut, West Virginia’s already destitute maternal and infant health outcomes would worsen, and pregnant people and newborns would suffer.
“Half of West Virginia’s counties currently lack adequate maternal and infant health care, and entire counties lack maternity hospitals,” she said. “The state’s laws have made reproductive health care desolate, making matters worse for people in this state. Doctors are fleeing for fear of losing their license to provide life-saving care to their patients. These laws disproportionately increase maternal and child mortality rates in minority communities.”
The non-profit organization for maternal care will be founded in 2024 March of Dimes gave West Virginia a grade of “F,” ranking it 50th out of 50 states in the number of premature births. In 2023, more than 13% of the state’s births were preterm, a rate that has increased over the past 10 years and is higher than the state average of 10.4%.
West Virginia’s minority population is particularly affected by the state’s destitute maternal and infant health. Black babies are 1.3 times more likely to be born prematurely than others. according to the March of Dimes.
If Medicaid funding is cut, “an already rapidly worsening problem will become nothing short of catastrophic,” Payne said. “Deadly prenatal diseases such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes will go unnoticed and maternal and infant mortality rates will skyrocket.”
Lynette Maselli, state director of Protect Our Care, called Medicaid a “lifeline.”
“It has kept people employed, kept rural hospitals open and strengthened state budgets,” she said. “But Republicans continue to demand deep cuts to Medicaid to fund tax breaks for millionaires. As a result, families, children and seniors are unable to see a doctor when they need it most. If Republicans get their way, millions of Americans will lose the vital health care they need to stay healthy.”
