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Emergency rooms in West Virginia are overwhelmed with patients. Cots sit in hallways. Patients in waiting rooms scream in pain.
Many people who use drugs don’t have local treatment centers. Local doctors’ offices are in short supply.
West Virginians already struggle to find the health care they need. It’s about to get much, much worse.
Republicans in Congress are closing in on the final passage of a funding bill that would drastically cut Medicaid, which provides care for older, poor and disabled people, including more than 500,000 West Virginians. The cuts are part of far-reaching legislation to enact much of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda.
Following the U.S. Senate’s passage of the bill Tuesday, the GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives was moving toward a vote on Wednesday to meet Trump’s demand for approval before July 4.
“We will see hospital closures,” said Rich Sutphin, executive director of the West Virginia Rural Health Association.
The seven most at risk of closure are Logan Regional Medical Center, Welch Community Hospital, Broaddus Hospital Association, Minnie Hamilton Health Care Center, Grafton City Hospital, Jackson General Hospital and Montgomery General Hospital, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina.
And for hospitals that don’t close, services and treatments that rely on Medicaid the most are likely to be cut. At the ERs, for example, people would have to wait longer to be seen with fewer doctors and nurses, and others would lose their regular doctor.
Montgomery General Hospital CEO Deborah Hill said it’s already stretched thin and would be extremely likely to close. More than a quarter of its patients rely on Medicaid.
Small hospitals like Montgomery General are often one of the few places for people to see a doctor nearby. People from neighboring Clay and Nicholas counties often travel there.
“Imagine you’re having a heart attack, and you’re in one of those areas, “ Hill said. “You’re already 40 minutes from us, and it’s another 30 minutes to Charleston.”
Mothers and infants among the victims
In 90-degrees heat at a Huntington park, Christina Langley arrived early at a get-together for women in recovery.
With her 3-year-old daughter Magnolia, she put juice boxes, water bottles and ice in an inner tube as a make-shift cooler.
Sitting on towels in the grass and slathering on sunscreen, several women said Langley, who is also in recovery, has been a source of inspiration.
At 15, Langley became pregnant. She said the town shamed her. Adults told their kids not to hang out with her.
Nothing helped until a dentist prescribed painkillers after removal of her wisdom teeth. For the first week, the pills numbed the pain. After that, they numbed the shame.
Through Medicaid, she got into addiction treatment and support groups.
Hospital workers showed her that what mattered was how she felt about herself.
“If I hadn’t gotten sober, I know I would be dead by now,” Langley said. “And without the treatment that I got, I know I wouldn’t be sober.”
She could lose her job due to Medicaid cuts.
Hospital officials confirmed that programs like the moms’ group there, and other services for families harmed by problematic substance use, would be among the most at risk.
During a recent visit to Washington, D.C., Langley and hospital leaders from around the state warned cuts could devastate them.
She tried to help West Virginia’s members of Congress understand people don’t have to use Medicaid forever.
Now 42, she gets private insurance through the hospital.
“There are people out here breaking those generational bonds and chains,” she said.
Langley said she didn’t get any promises.
WV’s representatives praise hospitals, vote against then
As governor in 2017, Sen. Jim Justice said “any cut” to Medicaid would “cripple” the state.
Last year, he signed a bill to increase how much hospitals can get from Medicaid.
But earlier this week, he voted to pass the federal legislation, which sets new limits on the amount and makes other cuts to Medicaid.
Kaiser Family Foundation reports that cuts would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $1 trillion and increase the number of uninsured people by 11.8 million, making nearly 8 million people lose coverage by 2034.
Last month, he said changes to hospital payments would “hurt our rural hospitals and hurt them in a big way, and I don’t want to see that at all.”
Friday, his spokesperson sent an email saying Justice believes the legislation strikes a good balance between running the program efficiently and protecting the most vulnerable.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito has said the goal “is to root the waste, fraud, and abuse out of the program,” but she’s said she didn’t know the extent of fraud, waste and abuse in West Virginia.
And in a news release Tuesday, she said the bill ensures Medicaid is sustainable long-term and touted other provisions of the bill.
In May, when West Virginia Rep. Carol Miller, a Republican, voted for the similar version of the bill, she said it would improve the life of the average American and promoted tax cuts that predominantly benefit the wealthy and businesses.
Last month on social media, she posted a photo with hospital representatives and praised the West Virginia Hospital Association for doing “incredible work as the voice of the state’s hospital community.”
Miller wouldn’t speak to her stance this week.
Rep. Riley Moore, also a Republican, praised the bill for similar reasons as Miller and for helping build a border wall.
In Logan County, Margaret Hensley’s family knows the value of the local hospital. Hensley is Christina Langley’s mother.
Angel sculptures and family photos surround Hensley’s office.
Her nephew is in recovery and has mental illnesses, learning disabilities and diabetes.
“If he loses his benefits, I’m probably gonna have to bury him,” she said.
Her mother-in-law’s life was saved at the hospital after she developed a blood clot.
“I’m praying it doesn’t shut down,” said Hensley, a pastor’s wife. “It’s going to cost people their lives.”
Reach reporter Erin Beck at erinbeck@mountainstatespotlight.org
