Providing Health Care for the Future

PROVIDING HEALTH CARE FOR THE FUTURE
by Governor Bob Wise

For the last couple of weeks, I have been traveling to hospitals around the state to talk with staff and administrators about the need for action to preserve the state's Medicaid budget. Quality, affordable, accessible health care is vital to the future of West Virginia, and we must find a way to balance our budget without cutting important health care programs.

Medicaid is important because it pays for health care costs for our most vulnerable population -- senior citizens, low income persons and children -- but it also is important to the economy.

I have proposed a tax increase of one penny on each cigarette sold. That money would be used to help fund our Medicaid budget. The state currently receives a 3 to 1 match on Medicaid dollars. Right now, we're about $50 million in the hole in state dollars. With the match we get from the federal government, we'll be about $200 million down in Medicaid alone.

For example, the Medicaid budget in the Northern Panhandle is more than $112 million and accounts for more than 3,040 employees; in the Eastern Panhandle,it is more than $56 million and accounts for 1,250 employees; in North Central, W.Va., it is more than $204 million and accounts for 4,484 employees; and in Raleigh County, it is about $83.5 million and accounts for nearly 2,000 employees.

If we don't get a tax,or some way to pay for Medicaid, there are going to be severe cuts that will significantly affect the economy of this state. Imagine if we cut our budget 10 percent. Can we sustain losing thousands of jobs? How about cuts to nursing homes...prescription drugs...children's health insurance...and providers?

Another bill I proposed is tobacco securitization -- we must secure the dollars we get from the master tobacco settlement. Every year we get money from the cigarette manufactures, but they are at risk of lawsuits, bankruptcy and other financial difficulties. Unfortunately, the gap between our expected payments and the actual, lower amounts we are receiving continues to grow. The smart thing for us to do is secure a lump sum now and pay off a significant amount of debt that threatens our state's financial future - not one penny will go into the shortfall.

This money will help us eliminate the unfunded liabilities in the Trooper A Retirement System and the Judicial Pension System and nearly double the state's investment in the Medical Trust Fund. It also will strengthen the Workers' Compensation System by resolving debt incurred by self-insured large employers, enabling us to protect them and better attract similar companies.

Finally, we must provide insurance for our citizens. We do fairly well with our children, but our adults need some help. I have introduced legislation that allows small businesses to buy in to the Public Employees Insurance Agency.

These are important steps in offering affordable health insurance to all the citizens of West Virginia. By passing these measures, we move even closer to ensuring health care for all our citizens.