What's at stake for WV in the health care fight

If you want to know what's at stake for West Virginians in the fight to preserve the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is once again under attack by Prince Joffrey President Trump, consider this info by Gazette-Mail reporter Lori Kersey:

Low-income West Virginians received $90 million worth of mental health and substance abuse treatment last year, and nearly $300 million over the last four years, under a law the Trump administration is trying to repeal, according to West Virginia health officials.

Under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, West Virginia expanded its Medicaid program to those who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line.

According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, the state’s expanded Medicaid program spent about $58 million on mental health and substance abuse in fiscal year 2015, $61 million in 2016, $79 million in 2017 and $90 million in 2018.

Then there's this: according to the WV Department of Health and Human Resources, as of April 1, 160,356 West Virginians were covered by Medicaid expansion, a state option under the ACA. Another 22,600 state residents got coverage under the ACA exchange. Then there are around 12,000 young people who are able to stay on their parent's insurance until age 26, another ACA provision.

Then there's the fact that the ACA brings hundreds of millions of dollars to our economy, creating thousands of jobs and helping to keep rural hospitals and health care providers going.

Those are just numbers, but behind each number is a story. Here's a link to some collected from people who gained coverage thanks to Medicaid expansion.

This is our concern, Dude.