Historic National Health Care Reforms Adopted

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Americare). This historic piece of legislation has three basic goals: reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 32 million; strengthen regulation of the insurance industry; and begin the difficult task of controlling health care costs, particularly for Medicare. 

With the passage of the Americare almost all Americans will now enjoy the same fundamental rights to health care that citizens of every other developed nation enjoy.

As part of an extensive public education campaign, WVAHC has developed An Updated Guide to National Health Care Reform and What It Means for West Virginia. This 36-page booklet providing consumers with details of Americare and outlines recent regulations being adopted by the Obama Administration. An Updated Guide is an objective review of the major provision of the Act and its impact on West Virginia’s families and businesses. The foreword is written by Senator Jay Rockefeller.

Additionally, WVAHC has developed a series of other materials, including:

•  a two-page summary of Americare
•  a one page summary of what reforms are implemented this year
•  a one page summary of the changes in Medicare

and a series of PowerPoint presentations that include:

•  Americare an Overview
•  Americare and Its Impact on Medicare
•  Americare and Its Impact on Medicaid
•  Americare and Its Impact on the Business Community

In addition to these materials, WVAHC held a series of town meeting across West Virginia. These town meetings have allowed us to explain the provisions of Americare and answer questions that people have about the reforms. It is that dialogue that is so important to helping people understand this complex public policy initiative. There have already been several town meetings -- in Parkersburg, Wheeling, Morgantown, Elkins, Shepherdstown, Beckley, Charleston and Huntington. WVAHC is working to schedule additional town meetings in Fairmont, Lewisburg, Clarksburg and Logan.

2010 Health Care Reform Summit

The 2010 Growing Healthy Children Health Care Reform Summit held August 30-31, 2010 was a huge success. The Summit brought some of the most insightful experts on health care policy to Charleston, West Virginia.

Read the front page Charleston Gazette article about the Summit.  Here are some of the presentations made at the Summit:

• Nancy Atkins, RN, MSN, NP-BC, Commissioner, Bureau for Medical Services, W. Va. Dept. of Health and Human Services: Medicaid and Health Care Reform
• Roger Chafournier, Chair, West Virginia Health Improvement Institute; CEO, CSI Solutions, LLC: Transforming Health Care in West Virginia: Update
• Richard Hamburg, Deputy Director, Trust for America's Health: Cost Containment Through Prevention
• Dawn Horner, Senior Program Director, Center for Children and Families; Research Instructor, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute: What Health Care Reform Means for Children: Quality of Care
• Jocelyn Moore, Legislative Director and Staff Director of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care for Senator Jay Rockefeller: The Future of Health Care Reform
• Fred Ralston, MD, FACP, President, American College of Physicians: Health Care Reform: What is Means for Primary Care
• Louise Reese, Executive Director, West Virginia Primary Care Association: Turning Vision into Reality
• Brian Rosman, Research Director, Massachusetts Health Care for All: Lessons from the Massachusetts Health Reform Experience
• Jeremiah Samples, Insurance Program Manager, West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner: West Virginia Connect: West Virginia's Health Insurance Exchange
• Kathleen Stoll, Deputy Executive Director for Families USA: An Overview of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
• Nora Super, Director, Federal Government Relations, Health and Long-Term Care, AARP: What Health Care Reform Means for Medicare
• Bill TenHoor -- Senior Consultant, Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) Healthcare Solutions: Health Care Reform and Mental Health Parity

Download the reform summit brochure and agenda
Visit the summit website

Early Deaths: West Virginians Have Some of the Shortest Life Expectancies in the United States

West Virginians have lower life expectancies than the rest of the United States, and southern West Virginians have some of the lowest life expectancies in the country, particularly women. These are some of the findings of a report issued in September, 2008 by West Virginians for Affordable Health Care (WVAHC).
   Read the Report          Study the Raw Data