G-2402-20172

West Virginians for Affordable Health Care’s (WVAHC) mission is to bring a consumer voice to public policy so that every West Virginian has quality, affordable health care and the opportunity to lead an informed, healthy, and productive life. WVAHC advocates for positive public policy change, creates and coordinates public education programs, and assists individual consumers in navigating the health care system.

WVAHC is a returning grantee to CareQuest Institute that leveraged its most recent grant funds to launch and sustain an advocacy campaign aimed at passing a Medicaid Buy-In Plan that would provide more affordable health insurance options for West Virginians and expand access to existing dental benefits. While the legislature did not pass the plan, it did increase the oral health benefit for adults from $1,000 per year to $2,000 during a two-year period. WVAHC played a leading role in this advocacy and other successes include expanding CHIP to 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) and the number of restorative services covered under Medicaid. Given this progress, WVAHC will focus its activities around oral health advocacy on protecting these policy wins, building relationships with key policymakers and educate them on oral health access issues, and supporting enrollment for children and adults in Medicaid and CHIP. From a policy perspective, WVAHC will advocate for more robust and equitable continuous enrollment mechanisms to promote access to care for children beyond age six.

West Virginia has implemented an annual enrollment process for all children, but many continue to lose coverage due to an inefficient enrollment system that removes coverage when parents lose SNAP or other benefits. This system error continues to impact poor communities while also negatively influencing data on the state’s utilization of dental benefits. In addition to barriers to enrollment, West Virginia’s limited coverage options impact the state’s overall spending on health care, ranking WV among the highest spending states. Additionally, this spending has proven to be an ineffective means of treating the most vulnerable communities as the state is ranked number one in the nation for its age-adjusted death rate. Through the proposed advocacy work, WVAHC will also capitalize on legislator interest and recent expansions in CHIP as well as partner with various community-based organizations (e.g., Family Resources Networks, WV Oral Health Coalition, Partnership of African American Churches) to hold community engagement meetings in eight regions of the state. These partnerships and engagement plans will support WVAHC’s ability to identify personal stories around oral health and other health care needs and the organization’s network or self-advocates representing various demographic groups in WV.

WVAHC’s proposal is being recommended for funding in the requested amount of $150,000. The project budget indicates most funds will be used for staff time divided among three position ($115,000), with the remaining funding supporting travel, technology, and a communications consultant who will be responsible for coalition building, media training, and message development. Match funding is included for the project. This proposal represents approximately 25% of WVAHC’s overall budget.