Two more good things

For the sake of my own sanity, I've been blogging lately about things that are going right in West Virginia these days. One has got to be Medicaid expansion and the growth in health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

I was informed by a friend in the know that over 129,800 people have been covered through Medicaid expansion alone. Around 25,000 have coverage through the exchange and around 15,000 were found to be eligible for other programs. Prior to passage of ACA, folks I know estimated the number of uninsured in the state to be around 240,000. The number of people who gained coverage this year alone is equal to 70 percent of that.

MORE GOOD. Mingo County in southern WV has its share of economic problems, but it has become a leader in promoting child nutrition, physical activity and wellness generally. Mingo just got an award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in recognition of its progress. Read more here.

Overdetermined

Here's an interesting post from the Washington Posts's Wonkblog about why Central Appalachia's coal industry is declining. The conventional "wisdom" offered by the ruling class of El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia is that all problems of the industry are caused by a black guy with an African name, but this article points out other factors, including competition from gas and cheap Western coal.

To be fair, some of the proposed new regulations on energy will impact mining, and with it tax revenues and jobs. But the biggest factor by far is the market, which the same ruling class tends to worship as a god when it's convenient to do so.

It's not going to be pretty here. I do wish the federal government would step up with plans and programs to assist mining regions hard hit by these changes.

AUSTERITY BLUES. Here's Krugman on our failure to address long term unemployment.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. Here's just one of many examples of how West Virginians are trying to promote health and wellness. For more on that, click here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Infernal real estate

I'm sure my beloved Dante enjoyed parceling out real estate in Hell for the first canticle of his Divine Comedy. Some days, I'd kind of like to hand out the real thing. Some of the prime lots would go to people who cheated sick coal miners out of the black lung benefits they deserved.

ROBIN HOOD. Here's  an idea that makes way more sense than austerity.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. Here are some creative ways West Virginians are promoting wellness in their communities.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED