11,000 WEST VIRGINIANS COULD LOSE JOBS WITH MEDICAID CUTS - WV Children, Elderly. Disabled, Affected By Cuts, 75% Nursing Home Care Paid By Medicaid

(06/24/2011)

Reports are saying that West Virginians would lose as many as 11,000 health-care jobs in the next 10 years if the Senate were to pass the deep Medicaid cuts the House of Representatives has already approved, according to Families USA. West Virginia would lose 40 percent of its Medicaid funding by 2021, under the budget passed by the House of Representatives. More than 116,000 West Virginians now work in health-care-associated jobs, according to Workforce West Virginia. No other job sector employs more people in the state. About 90,000 work in retail and trade and 30,000 in mining and mining related jobs. "During the latest economic downturn, the health-care jobs sector grew in West Virginia, while almost everything else fell," said John Roberts, Workforce West Virginia employment program specialist. The federal government now sends West Virginia $3 to match every $1 the state puts up for its $2.5 billion program. Renate Pore, health-care policy director for West Virginians for Affordable Health Care said, "More than half of the West Virginians with Medicaid cards are children. Most of the rest are elderly and disabled people, and pregnant women. More than half of the state's live births are paid for by Medicaid." "More than 75 percent of the nursing home beds in West Virginia are paid for by Medicaid," said Pat Kelly, CEO of the state nursing home association. "This is a huge deal for us."

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