Governor Joe Manchin III in his State of the State address, Wednesday, February 11th:
“Currently, West Virginia covers a smaller percentage of our eligible working people under our Medicaid system than all but two other states. While federal Medicaid eligibility is set at 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, West Virginia only covers Medicaid-eligible parents who make less than 35 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which is less than $6,160 per year – and we don’t even cover single members of the working poor at all. We need to change that if we are to help low-income working West Virginians move toward better-paying jobs with healthcare.
“To that end, I have asked our Medicaid office to apply for a federal waiver to design a program of basic medical and preventive care coverage using the medical home concept that has worked well for the agency in the past. We will first use this program to expand health care coverage for working West Virginians, both individuals and parents, whose salaries are at or below 50 percent of the Federal Poverty Level but with the goal of achieving coverage for those with salaries up to 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.
“This is such an important step toward addressing our state’s growing healthcare concerns and unmanaged healthcare costs that, if necessary in the future, I will propose an increase in our state’s cigarette tax to pay for its continuation.”
Tags: Governor Manchin, tobacco tax, West Virginia Legislature
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