In West Virginia, health care isn’t just part of the economy — it IS the economy. And if we fail
to protect it, everything else is at risk.
In just days, the escalating conflict with Iran has already cost the United States an estimated $6 billion. Those same billions could have protected Americans’ health coverage instead.
Last month, I had the rare privilege of testifying before the health subcommittee of the United States House Energy and Commerce Committee….I came away with mixed impressions.
When federal leaders retreat from their responsibility, West Virginians are left to absorb the damage.
The tax credits are ending because policymakers are choosing to end them. Premiums are rising because policymakers are dismantling the support that kept them down. Coverage will be lost because no meaningful replacement was enacted.
New national polling from KFF, a leading health policy nonprofit, shows just how serious the situation is. About 84% of ACA enrollees — including strong majorities across the political spectrum — want Congress to restore the tax credits that help almost 22 million Americans afford coverage. This is not a partisan issue. It is an economic necessity.
Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in rural West Virginia announced it will no longer offer labor and delivery services after April 2026. The decision comes as part of a “reclassification” to become a Critical Access Hospital, a shift the hospital says is necessary under federal policy changes tied to Capito Care — the “Big, Beautiful Bill” — that cuts Medicaid funding by $1.1 trillion.
The tax credits that helped reduce West Virginia’s uninsured rate from approximately 20% to below 6% didn’t vanish by accident. Congress is letting them expire.
Supporters of the “Big Beautiful Bill” claim that Medicare won’t be touched. But that’s simply not true — and West Virginians deserve the truth.
Ask yourself: What happens when subsidies collapse and Medicaid shrinks? The answer: Regional hospitals lose reimbursements and must cut back, free clinics see a flood of uninsured people they can’t absorb, working parents drop coverage for their child to afford groceries, and your neighbor halts treatment for diabetes or heart disease.
