How the Child Tax Credit helped one WV family

(Please take less than two minutes to watch this video about the real life benefits of the  Child Tax Credit made by AFSC's JoAnna Vance and videographer Orlando Pinter--then consider calling the DC office of WV Senator Joe Manchin at the number given below.)

The Child Tax Credit is not an abstract policy; it has real impact on real people like JoAnna Vance and her family in West Virginia. Watch and share her story, then take action: Call Sen. Joe Manchin at (202) 224-3954 and tell him to support the Build Back Better agenda.

"My name is JoAnna Vance, and I am an organizer in the state and the nation.

Everything that I am today is a direct result of my recovery. The reality is, you stopped using drugs and you're in recovery and now you are there, in life, every day—not numbing your feelings, not running away from your problems, actually facing them—for probably the first time in your life.

My husband and I worked really hard to get where we are today, to give our kids the life that they have. Just like many other families, we still struggle.

When I got the Child Tax Credit in July [2021], it went straight to the pediatrician and I paid the bill that I owed for my children's health care. It was just a weight off my shoulders. You need all of the support and the help that you can get, especially in early recovery. Not having support, not having these other options, not having sustainability can all be detrimental.

The Child Tax Credit is helping people with recovery. It's helping people who have been affected directly by substance use disorder. The Child Tax Credit is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing, and it's helping our kids and helping our families in West Virginia and across the nation."

JoAnna Vance, AFSC WV Recovery Fellow

Some REALLY good news

 For those who are dreading what promises to be a metaphorical legislative bloodbath in West Virginia, here's some good news for the state and nation.

First a little background. A major provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act was expanding Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Originally, that was supposed to be applied across the board, but the US Supreme Court made it a state option when it ruled the ACA to be constitutional in 2012.

By now, 39 states, including DC, have extended the coverage, which is life saving and game changing in so many ways, from supporting jobs to opening the door to recovery. You can probably guess many of the states that haven't expanded it if you think of the Civil War. Thank God West Virginia isn't on that evil list.

When Trump became president, a major goal was total repeal of the ACA. It was scary for a long while, but eventually that idea went the way of the whole Mexico-paying-for-the-wall thing. However, his administration did encourage states to apply for waivers that would require people in the expansion population to meet so-called "work requirements." 

These didn't promote work but rather paperwork, reporting and surveillance on a population that mostly consisted of people already working. These would have resulted a huge portion of people in the program being cut off for no good reason. Some states applied, but their waiver plans were blocked by the courts.

In West Virginia, we've worked with allies to fight off at least two serious efforts to seek Medicaid waivers and until today were expecting more, which brings us to the good news part of the program. According to an article in today's Washington Post, 

The Biden administration is planning Friday to wipe out one of the core health policies of the Trump era, taking actions that will immediately rescind permission for states to compel poor residents to work in exchange for receiving Medicaid benefits.

Federal health officials will withdraw their predecessors’ invitation to states to apply for approval to impose such work requirements and will notify 10 states granted permission that it is about to be retracted, according to a draft plan obtained by The Washington Post and confirmed by two individuals familiar with the decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

So it looks like that's one less thing to worry about. I'll take it.

 

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.