Appalachian poverty concentrated around mine sites, WVU study says, By Ken Ward Jr., July 23, 2011, Charleston Gazette: “Poverty in Appalachia is concentrated in the communities around mountaintop removal mines, and people living in those areas suffer greater risk of early deaths, according to a new scientific paper by a West Virginia University researcher. Michael Hendryx, an associate professor in the WVU Department of Community Medicine, compared data on poverty, mortality and mining in counties in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. He was trying to determine if residents near mountaintop removal mines experience greater poverty and higher death rates compared to other kinds of mining or other areas of Appalachia…”
Tag: West Virginia
States and Medicaid Costs
- Obama administration looking to help states cut Medicaid costs, By Noam N. Levey, February 3, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Facing a brewing revolt among states wrestling with massive budget shortfalls and tattering healthcare safety nets, the Obama administration is intensifying a drive to help state leaders find ways to wring savings from their Medicaid programs. Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a letter to the nation’s 50 governors suggesting a range of cuts they can make to Medicaid, including dropping some people from the program…”
- Fla. lawmakers could expand Medicaid privatization, By Kelli Kennedy (AP), February 2, 2011, Miami Herald: “Florida legislators seem poised to pass a bill during its coming session aimed at reducing the state’s Medicaid expenditures by expanding privatization of the program, but that may not get federal approval. The Republican Legislature wants to put more of the state’s nearly 3 million Medicaid recipients into privately managed care, expanding a 2006 pilot program implemented under former Gov. Jeb Bush that affects five counties – Broward, Duval, Baker, Clay and Nassau. Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday he’d like to expand the program statewide. Scott recently talked with federal health officials about the waiver and said he hopes it’s extended without changes. Florida’s Medicaid program cost about $18 billion during the last fiscal year, with the state paying $8 billion and the federal government footing $11 billion. The cost is expected to rise to more than $20 billion during the current fiscal year…”
- As many as 182,000 to join state Medicaid, By Ry Rivard, February 1, 2011, Charleston Daily Mail: “Three years before national health care reform’s most expensive provisions take effect, West Virginia officials are struggling to guess how many residents will suddenly be insured by the government-run Medicaid program and how much the state will owe because of it. As many as 182,000 new people could enroll in the state Medicaid program, costing the state as much as $175 million a year starting in 2017, officials from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said Monday. And as many as half of those people may already have insurance, including about 29,000 who currently pay for private insurance, according to separate estimates made by DHHR. Officials are still struggling to understand the effects of the Obama administration’s overhaul of the nation’s health care system. A tangle of administrative rules and shifting projections makes every number tentative and subject to change…”
Home Weatherization Program – West Virginia
‘Successful weatherization’ effort?, By Alison Knezevich, September 4, 2010, Charleston Gazette: “In April 2009, West Virginia received nearly $38 million in federal stimulus funds to make the homes of needy residents more energy-efficient. Eighteen months later, many are wondering why that weatherization aid never reached them. Karen Hoffman, 55, got a letter last June saying she had been approved for repairs at her mobile home in Cross Lanes. ‘No one has ever been here,’ Hoffman said. Peggy Coleman of Cedar Grove said a weatherization crew replaced her 33-year-old furnace late last year. The crew was supposed to return to install an air conditioner. ‘They just never came back,’ the 79-year-old widow said. Weatherization is meant to help cut the energy bills of low-income, disabled and elderly people. Crews can install insulation, seal ducts, and tune up or replace heating and cooling systems. The U.S. Department of Energy says families can save an average of $437 a year. The federal stimulus package pumped $5 billion into the program, but across the nation, states have failed to meet goals set when the stimulus was rolled out. They’ve blamed complex federal regulations and other challenges…”