Ellen Allen (center), executive director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, speaks during a news conference announcing the open enrollment period for plans on healthcare.gov, the federal government’s health insurance marketplace that was established as part of the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024 in Charleston, W.Va. (Lori Kersey | West Virginia Watch)
Nearly a week before an election that may lead to changes in the monumental health care law, West Virginia advocates on Wednesday touted the benefits that the Affordable Care Act has had in the state.
“The ACA has expanded health coverage to millions of Americans, and West Virginians,” said Ellen Allen, executive director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care.
Allen’s comments came during a news conference announcing the open enrollment period for health insurance plans on healthcare.gov, the federal government’s marketplace for health insurance, which was established with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, which former President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010.
West Virginia’s uninsured rate has dropped from 29% in 2013, before the law was fully implemented, to nearly 6% today. Last year, more than 51,000 West Virginians got their health insurance through the federal health insurance marketplace healthcare.gov.
West Virginia is also one of 40 states that have expanded their Medicaid program to cover low-income adults, another provision of the Affordable Care Act. As of April, more than 500,000 West Virginians were enrolled in Medicaid, according to the state Department of Human Services.
The federal law also eliminated lifetime caps on health insurance spending and mandated that health insurance companies offer people coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions.
West Virginia is likely to elect state and federal leaders who oppose the health care law. As attorney general, Republican gubernatorial candidate Patrick Morrisey signed on to a lawsuit with 17 other states asking the courts to strike down the law.
Former President Donald Trump tried to and failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. More recently, Trump has said he does not plan to revisit the attempts to overturn the health care law, but said during a debate that he has “concepts of a plan” to revise the law. U.S. House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that Republicans would do a “massive reform” of the Affordable Care Act if Trump is re-elected president.
Allen said advocates want whoever is elected to support the health care law.
“What we would like to see is continued support for the Affordable Care Act,” Allen said. “To make sure that the subsidies continue so truly, every American can afford access to affordable health care.”
The Affordable Care Act was transformational, Allen said, without subsidies provided in President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, plans were still expensive for many people.
“It probably would have been too expensive for myself, but with the enhanced tax credits, the credits available make it more affordable,” she said.
Rusty Williams, a Kanawha County resident, spoke of his experience being diagnosed with late-stage testicular cancer in 2012, just as different aspects of the health care law were going into effect.
“Folks could still be discriminated against for having pre-existing conditions and those sort of things, and I was one of those people,” Williams said. “They essentially said, ‘You need emergency surgery. This is bad. How can you pay for it?’ That was literally the next course of action. They sent me to talk to the finance people.”
Williams said he spent the next six weeks trying to get health coverage, and had accepted that without the treatment, he would instead live out the remaining months of his life the best he could. He eventually found coverage through the James “Tiger” Morton Catastrophic Illness Commission, a state program established to be a last resort for those with a life-threatening illness who have no other resources.
Then the Affordable Care Act was implemented, and Williams was able to get health care coverage, he said.
“I’m a firm believer that, were it not for the Affordable Care Act and were it not for the Medicaid expansion, I would not be here today,” Williams said. “So on behalf of all the West Virginians, all the Mountaineers that found themselves in my position, I can’t speak highly enough for the Affordable Care Act and what it did to me.”
Allen said the Affordable Care Act was the “greatest advance for women’s health in a generation,” and was an “economic engine” for the state.
“The ACA has contributed to a strong job market. The ACA and Medicaid expansion, as part of the ACA, has fueled reimbursements for rural hospitals,” Allen said. “It’s kept many of them alive and operating.”
Open enrollment in plans on healthcare.gov starts Friday, Nov. 1 and continues through Jan. 15, 2025. People who want their health insurance plan to start Jan. 1, 2025 should sign up by Dec. 15.
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