West Virginia Health Insurance
West Virginia’s health status
West Virginia has always been ranked low when it comes to health, as it has been ranked as one of the bottom 10 states in the country for the past 18 years. 2008 is the first year on which the state gets ranked above the 40-mark, and well, things seem to be improving for West Virginians. The state went up five spots this year (it was ranked 44th in 2007), which means the overall lifestyle and health status is improving. Key factors that helped the state improve within the past year are the decrease in the percentage of West Virginians lacking Health Insurance (now, only about 13.8% of residents within the state lack Health Insurance Coverage), and the decrease in the occupational fatalities rate and the incidence of infectious cases.
Some of the state’s best features, when it comes to health, are a good and strong public health funding at $121 per person, a low prevalence of binge drinking at 10.5% of the population (the 5th in the nation), a low (and decreasing) violent crime rate at 275 offenses per 100,000 population and a low incidence of infectious disease at 9.5 cases per 100,000 population. Also, despite increasing slightly, the premature death rate growth in the past year was below the national average, which were good news for the residents. West Virginia ranks higher for health determinants than for health outcomes, indicating that overall healthiness should improve over time as was the case this year.
There are still a lot of things this state needs to work on, to improve its health condition. Some of the challenges include: high percentage of children in poverty (with 24% of legal children living in poverty), high levels of air pollution (the third worst in the nation, at 15.5 micrograms of fine particulate per cubic meter), the second highest prevalence of smoking in the US, at 26.9% of the population, many poor mental and physical health days per month at 4.2 days and 5.1 days, respectively in the previous 30 days and a very high number of preventable hospitalizations with 114.4 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees. Obesity is also a key issue in this state, and although it lowered slightly within the past year, it’s still the fifth highest prevalence in the nation.
Despite the strong public health funding (at $121 per person) and an average percentage of the population with Health Insurance Coverage, health needs to be more accessible and more efficient. West Virginia is working hard towards improving its overall health, and this has started to pay off, but the efforts must continue so the situation keeps getting better.
West Virginia health insurance information
Despite having a very strong public health funding, West Virginia has a below average accessibility, with an barely acceptable percentage of residents with Health Insurance coverage. 86.2% of the West Virginia residents have Health Insurance, and 13.8% of residents lack it, a percentage that has although was lowered considerably in the past year, can still improve. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is slightly low, with 48.8% percent of employers offering health Insurance plans. This percentage has lowered since 2003. About 77.6% of workers take the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers, the highest percentage in the nation.
West Virginia, despite its strong funding, has to still work some things out and to offer a better health service to its residents. The state manages to have a slightly below average rate of primary care physicians for the population, with 106.2 physicians per 100,000 population. The extremely high number of preventable hospitalizations show the efficiency issues of the system as well. The percentage of the West Virginia population that could get medical care when needed is also low, at 82.9%. The patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL stands at 46.6%.
If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:
Best health plans in West Virginia
The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for West Virginia as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.
Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.
Get involved
If you are concerned about West Virginia’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.
If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.
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| Contact the White House PHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) State officials:
Official West Virginia health insurance information
| Recent West Virginia health insurance newsHealth Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of West Virginia and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for West Virginia: |
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