By james art 
West Virginia healthcare advocates say that proposals to reduce Federal Federal Funding for Medicaid will close rural hospitals and worsen the “crisis” of mothers and babies healthcare in the state, among other things.
Protect Oour Care, a national non -profit organization aimed at protecting the health of Americans, hosted a press conference on Friday with representatives of West Virginians for affordable care and planned parenting.
According to KFF Health Policy Research OrganizationRepublicans in the House of US Representatives are considering changes in the Medicaid Federal Budget Reduction by $ 2.3 trillion. Proposals include the conversion of Medicaid into a group grant program, reducing federal matching sums, setting ceilings on the amount of the cost of a person and imposing requirements for work on the healthcare program.
“These proposals will produce a hole of about $ 235 million in the Western Virginia state budget and leave tens of thousands of people uninsured,” said Ellen Allen, CEO of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care on Friday.
As of OctoberMore than 472,000 residents of West Virginia have been included in Medicaid. The joint state and federal health program covers 72 million Americans. Currently, the Federal Government pays about 74% of the country’s expenses for Medicaid, According to the CFFS
Drew Galang, a spokesman for the governor of the Western Virginia Patrick Morrisi, said on Friday that the governor is still examining the budget positions that he believes are faced with a deficit of $ 400 million and has not outlined specific proposals.
Medicaid helps to fund country hospitals in West Virginia, Alan said, helping to ensure that patients can pay for their care. Rural hospitals in the United States, which have expanded their Medicaid programs under the affordable care Act, are less likely to be closed, she said. If the congress reduces the expansion of Medicaid, more rural hospitals will be forced to close, she said.
“Gutting Medicaid will take away health care from hardworking families in West Virginia instead of helping them,” Alan said. “They deserve better. We deserve better. It is in our strength to do it. “
Caleen Payne, a Planned Parentood Health Policy analyst, said that if Medicaid’s financing is discontinued, and already bad results in West Virginia in mothers and babies will worsen and pregnant people and newborns will be affected.
“Half of Western Virginia counties currently do not have appropriate health care for mothers and babies, with entire counties having no hospitals to have birth,” she said. “The laws of the state have worsened the desert of the care of reproductive health that people in this state face, with doctors running away from fear of losing their license to grant their patients’ life -saving care, these laws increasing the levels of the maternal and infant mortality , minority communities. “
In 2024, the non -profit organization for mothers care March of Dimes gave Western Virginia a rating “F” and ranked it in 50 out of 50 states in number of premature births. More than 13% of births in the state were premature in 2023, a percentage that has increased in the last 10 years and is higher than the national average 10.4%.
West Virginia’s minority population is particularly affected by the bad results for mother and baby health in the state. Black babies are 1.3 times more likely than others to be born prematurely, According to March of Dimes.
If Medicaid’s financing is discontinued, “A fast worsening problem will happen nothing but catastrophic,” Payne said. “Deadly prenatal diseases such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes will go unnoticed, and the levels of mother and infant mortality will jump abruptly.”
Linet Masselli, State Director of Protect Our Care, called the Medicaid “Life Belt”.
“This keeps people busy and rural hospitals open, as well as stimulating state budgets,” she said. “But Republicans continue to direct Medicaid to deep cuts to fund tax breaks for millionaires. As a result, families, children and the elderly will not be able to visit a doctor when they are most needed. If the Republican Party achieves its own, millions of Americans will lose the critical health coverage they need to stay healthy. “
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