Does West Virginia want to keep healthcare from its citizens?
What has happened over the past decade since the Affordable Care Act became law? Well, in West Virginia and the USA, the rate of uninsured has gone down significantly, although that may change when the new Big Beautiful Bill takes effect in coming years.
Here is a bit of history. On Feb. 22, 2018, 20 Republican-controlled states, including West Virginia, filed a lawsuit to do away with the ACA, citing questionable grounds. Many legal scholars heavily criticized the filing as political rather than legal in nature.
These red states were supported by the Trump administration, consistent with the President’s first term frequent declarations that he would repeal the ACA and replace it with something better. He never came up with any reform proposal to accomplish this aim.
There were 27 states who either defended the ACA, joined in defending on appeal or filed briefs supporting the ACA. In the end, California v. Texas was decided in a 7-2 decision. Essentially, this very conservative Supreme Court found that these 18 red states had no standing to sue.
In 2018, West Virginia itself had a 6% uninsured rate compared to only 3% in deep blue Massachusetts. That was below the national average. However, many of the other 18 states which were suing to find the ACA unconstitutional had healthcare insurance levels much worse than the national average. Three had the largest number of uninsured in the nation, including Texas, Florida and Georgia.
When the ACA was passed, many uninsured individuals obtained insurance. By 2016, over 20 million had been added nationally. However, under Trump in his first term, the rate of insured fell and the number of uninsured went from 26.7 million to 28.9 million.
Who are the medically uninsured? Proportionality, more are adults than children. The uninsured are disproportionately low income. However, the majority have one or more employed people in the family unit but just don’t receive health care benefits in their jobs. They simply cannot afford to buy coverage.
Additionally, more of the uninsured are people of color versus Caucasians. The 2023 national racial breakdown for uninsured adults is 18% Black, 18% Hispanic 18% and 7% White, according to the KFF.
People of color vote disproportionally for Democrats. Whites tend to vote for the GOP. Is this a key reason why predominantly white states like West Virginia which are controlled by the GOP wanted the ACA repealed and/or found unconstitutional? There certainly is a correlation, if not a totally provable causation.
In the immortal words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.â€
America is the world’s most religious democracy and West Virginia is one of our more religious states. Therefore, patriotic West Virginians should look forward to the day when partisan politics is not as important as assuring that needy Americans have the healthcare that they need and deserve. That view is consistent with biblical teachings.
