West Virginia Health Insurance

How healthy is living in West Virginia?

West Virginia ranks 44th out of the 50 states in a 2007 study of the healthiest states in which to live. Most of the lowest-ranked states are in the southeastern part of the country.

The only one of 20 categories that West Virginia breaks into the top ten is in binge drinking, where the state has the sixth lowest in the nation. Binge drinkiing appears to be a problem mostly affecting northern states -- the upper Midwest and northeastern states.

It also has the most preventable hospitalizations.

West Virginia is next-to-worst in several other important rankings. Only Kentucky has more smokers and cancer deaths (linkage?) and only Mississippi has a more obese population.

West Virginia ties with Kentucky for the most sick days taken. Its in the bottom five for bad mental health days, occupational fatalities and cardiovascular deaths.

See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on West Virginia.

Does West Virginia have a risk pool for the uninsurable?

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

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 poolto 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. Find more on risk pools here.

Mini-meds a guaranteed-issue option for those who are medically uninsurable

An option for the medically uninsurable is a guaranteed-issue mini-med health insurance plan. There is no underwriting and no health questions are asked.

These plans provide basic coverage but are not designed to help with catastrophic expenses. They can often count as creditable coverage, eliminating the waiting period for pre-existing conditions if you later move to an employer-based plan (based on the same criteria as other plans offering creditable coverage.) See our article about this new class of health insurance here.

Cover The Uninsured's guide on finding health insurance in West Virginia

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in West Virginia.
• Its guide on how to find health insurance in West Virginia.
• Materiales En Español -- Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown University's Guide to Health Insurance in West Virginia

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations contribute to funding its research. Find more on the Health Policy Institute.

• Georgetown's guide for West Virginia.

News headlines on West Virginia health insurance

Find the most recent headlines on health insurance in West Virginia at Google News or Yahoo News.

Want single-payer health care? Concerned about the uninsured?
Contact your elected officials about health care issues

Contact your federal officials. Phone calls are best. Faxes are good, too. Since 9-11, postal mail creates long delays, and many members of Congress simply do not take e-mail seriously -- however, since e-mail is so easy it doesn't hurt to do that, too. Members of the Senate and Congress will usually ignore any correspondence that is not from their district, so it's not desirable to blanket e-mail them (This type of abuse is why many legislators do not view e-mail favorably). The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a guide on how to contact your elected officials, including a valuable list of dos and don'ts.

• Contact the White House
  Phone: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line)
  FAX: 1 202-456-2461 (fax)
  E-mail:comments@whitehouse.gov
  
  
• Find contact information on your U.S. Representative
  Locate by using your ZIP Code
  Or if you know who your representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 1-800-962-3524

• Senator Robert Byrd
  PHONE: 202-224-3954 (DC office)
  FAX: not available (DC office)
  Local offices
  Contact by E-mail

• Senator Jay Rockefeller
  PHONE: 202-224-6472 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-224-7665 (DC office)
  Local offices
  Contact by E-mail
  
  

Contact your state officials:

• West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin
  1900 Kanawha Boulevard, E.
  Charleston, WV 25305
  PHONE: toll-free 1-888-438-2731
  Contact by e-mail
  
  
  
• Contact your West Virginia State Senator
• Contact your West Virginia State Representative

USNews health insurance rankings for West Virginia

US News does an annual ranking of what it considers the best health insurance plans in each state. Visit its reports on various health insurance or medical insurance plans being offered in West Virginia.

Official State Goverment Sites with West Virginia Health Insurance Information

West Virginia Children's Health Insurance Program (WVCHIP) -- a low cost health care plan for children and teenagers of working families.

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources -- administers programs aimed toward the citizens of West Virginia.

West Virginia Medicaid Program -- information on the federal/state program to provide health coverage for those without the means to pay for it.