CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A longtime physician with the New River Health Association in Fayette County is asking Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to "take full advantage of the Medicaid expansion opportunity available under the Affordable Care Act of 2010."
Dr. Dan Doyle sent a letter to Tomblin last week as chairman of a group called the Fayetteville Fair Share PAC.
Expanding Medicaid coverage would also require the state to pay for part of the increased medical benefits.
Doyle wrote, "With this expansion, almost 120,000 West Virginians would become eligible for health care coverage in 2014."
Fifty-three percent of the new beneficiaries would be young people, between the ages of 19 and 34, working in agricultural and service jobs, Doyle said.
Today, 40 percent of West Virginians between the ages of 18 and 64, who are below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, are uninsured.
"The federal government will pay 100 percent of the costs of this expansion for the first three years," Doyle wrote, "and not less than 90 percent thereafter."
The West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy, based in Charleston, estimates that maximum participation in Medicaid expansion would bring more than $3.7 billion in federal money into the state over six years.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A longtime physician with the New River Health Association in Fayette County is asking Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to "take full advantage of the Medicaid expansion opportunity available under the Affordable Care Act of 2010."
Dr. Dan Doyle sent a letter to Tomblin last week as chairman of a group called the Fayetteville Fair Share PAC.
Expanding Medicaid coverage would also require the state to pay for part of the increased medical benefits.
Doyle wrote, "With this expansion, almost 120,000 West Virginians would become eligible for health care coverage in 2014."
Fifty-three percent of the new beneficiaries would be young people, between the ages of 19 and 34, working in agricultural and service jobs, Doyle said.
Today, 40 percent of West Virginians between the ages of 18 and 64, who are below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, are uninsured.
"The federal government will pay 100 percent of the costs of this expansion for the first three years," Doyle wrote, "and not less than 90 percent thereafter."
The West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy, based in Charleston, estimates that maximum participation in Medicaid expansion would bring more than $3.7 billion in federal money into the state over six years.
"Besides providing the benefits of health care to working West Virginians, this will provide major economic benefits in the form of jobs, business revenue, consumption, and increased tax revenues," Doyle wrote.
Tomblin's office did not respond to a telephone call Friday asking about the governor's position on these issues.
The state insurance commissioner is overseeing actuarial analyses of the costs and benefits of the proposed Medicaid expansion under the 2010 federal law.
Funded by a federal grant of $800,000, the state's research about Medicaid expansion is scheduled to be completed and released to the public in January. The results should help state decision-makers and the public on their discussions about these issues.
CCRC Actuaries, a Maryland company, is conducting some of the statistical research for Insurance Commissioner John P. Hale. CCRC already does research for West Virginia's Public Employees Insurance Agency and Children's Health Insurance Program.
The insurance commissioner also has a sub-contract with Jonathan Gruber, a health-care economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In his letter to Tomblin, Doyle wrote, "We urge you to communicate to the Legislature and West Virginia citizens that this is an opportunity not to be missed, an opportunity to provide needed health care coverage to hard working West Virginians, and at the same time major economic benefits to the state both in the health care sector and beyond."
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.
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