West Virginia Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in West Virginia?

West Virginia is down four spots in the America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation; its 2012 rankings make it the 47th healthiest state to live in.

The good news:

• The state has a low rate of binge drinking.
• At $129 per person, public health funding is high.

The bad news:

• West Virginia has the country's second-highest percentage of adult smokers.
• The state ranks 48th for its rates of sedentary lifestyle, obesity and diabetes.
• The state's immunization rate dropped 5.5 percentage points from 2011 to 2012.

West Virginia's best and worst category rankings:

• inge Drinking – 2nd
• Public Health Funding – 4th
• Infectious Disease – 9th
• Smoking – 49th
• Preventable Hospitalizations – 49th
• Premature Deaths – 49th
• Cancer Deaths – 49th
• Poor Physical Health Days – 50th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on West Virginia.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key West Virginia health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts West Virginia here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for West Virginia, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Does West Virginia have a health insurance high risk pool?

West Virginia Health Insurance Plan
1-866-445-8491

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, West Virginia started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about West Virginia's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

Non-profit sources of health insurance information for West Virginia

• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's mission is to provide simplified public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. Here is its guide on how to find health insurance in West Virginia.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for West Virginia can be found here.
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers. Search for West Virginia health insurance plan report cards.

West Virginia state government health insurance resources

The Roadmap to Health Project (health care reform) —  State government information on the implementation of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services (Medicaid) —  The state agency tasked with administering the federal-state partnership to serve low income West Virginians.

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources —  Administers programs aimed toward the citizens of West Virginia.

West Virginia Children’s Health Insurance Program (WVCHIP) —  A low cost health care plan for children and teenagers of working families.

How did West Virginia officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (2)

• Shelley Capito

• David McKinley

Our
Pick

No (1)

• Nick Rahall