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"Insurance used to be the thing that stood between people and huge health care bills. Now insurance itself is another huge bill. Or it's just unaffordable. And if you don't have it these days, every day you get up and risk financial disaster." --Sharon Carte, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)director.
One in four working-age West Virginians is without health insurance. More than 60 percent of uninsured West Virginians have jobs.
In the coming months, the Charleston Gazette will explore the reasons why West Virginia's health insurance prices are particularly high. We will introduce you to the people who are uninsured, the people who are teetering on the edge, and the people who are trying to do something about it.
December 29, 2003
1950s: 'Most anybody who wanted insurance got it,' 2008: Average family policy predicted to cost $18,000
In 1955, newly married, young Tom Kasey went door to door to collect health insurance premiums. “You ...
December 22, 2003
Second of two articles
For 27 years, Wynona Maynor pressed seams and waistbands of Corbin Ltd. pants. The money from her jo ...
December 21, 2003
Self-funded health plan turns into nightmare
HUNTINGTON — In 1997, the seamstresses at Corbin Ltd. gave up two years of raises so the company cou ...
November 17, 2003
“How forceable are right words,” says the Bible in Job 6:25.
Byzantine language packs a wallop too. ...
November 17, 2003
Health-care costs will double by 2008 if they keep rising at double-digit rates. People who do not h ...
November 16, 2003
Working poor – and many with commercial insurance – pay at least twice what the government pays
One night last May, Carolyn Davis was fixing up her Kanawha City home for her granddaughter’s ...
November 16, 2003
Medical coverage first and last issue in labor contract negotiations
When their contract expired in fall 1974, nearly 2,000 union Kroger workers in the West Virginia are ...
October 20, 2003
‘We can’t wait for Congress. We’ve got to do all we can here.’
In September, the governors of Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa grabbed national headlines when they ask ...
October 19, 2003
‘We can’t wait for Congress. We’ve got to do all we can here.’
In September, the governors of Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa grabbed national headlines when they ask ...
October 18, 2003
Uninsured people get few deals. Insurance companies negotiate discounts on drug prices. So do hospit ...
September 7, 2003
Government gets big drug discounts you can't get
On one hand, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tries to keep Grandma and Grandpa from buying dis ...
September 7, 2003
The U.S. Veterans Administration negotiates drug prices that make Canadian prices look downright exp ...
September 7, 2003
“When you’re talking about prescription drug prices, the best thing a state can do right ...
August 31, 2003
A few weeks ago, we asked to hear from readers about the issue of American vs. Canadian drug prices. ...
August 25, 2003
Fairmont storefront fuels international fracas over Canadian drug prices
FAIRMONT — Mary Ellen Nottingham was running an errand earlier this month when she spotted a photogr ...
August 10, 2003
A Sunday Gazette-Mail staffer recently checked the Internet to find out what her prescription drug w ...
August 3, 2003
In West Virginia: 'We wanted to be different'
SISTERS Carol Burgess and Lisa Lineberg slice bagels, tote bags of flour, run the cash register, wai ...
August 3, 2003
In Canada: 'A Fairer, more humane mess'
ABOUT 500 miles north of Charleston, Carolyn Molot arrives at Sisters Deli most mornings before 7 a. ...
July 20, 2003
Some blame big projects for high medical costs
A state agency charged with keeping medical costs under control has given hospitals virtually every ...
July 14, 2003
A flood of health insurance problems
How does the rising cost of health care and health insurance affect you and others you know?
June 17, 2003
Insurance CEO stumps against high health insurance prices
“When an insurance executive stands up and warns people about insurance prices, we know weR ...
June 17, 2003
West Virginia crisis
THE AFFORDABILITY, or lack thereof, of health insurance is a national problem. But like many nationa ...
June 16, 2003
In January 2001, in the first month of his administration, Gov. Bob Wise summoned his department hea ...
June 16, 2003
Aiming to protect the uninsured
When Sally Richardson was born in 1933, St. Mary’s Hospital in Huntington charged her parents $25. R ...
June 15, 2003
Health insurance prices may double: 'This affects everybody'
"A lot of people have no idea how scary it is to have no health insurance,” said Walter Price. ...
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