About one in five West Virginians relies on the state/federal Medicaid program for health care services. Though about 80 percent of the funding comes from Washington, state taxpayers provide nearly half a billion dollars each year.
Under the new federal health care law, Medicaid eligibility will be expanded dramatically. That will cost West Virginia hundreds of millions of dollars during the next few years.
That was bad enough. Now comes news of a plan to slash federal funding for West Virginia's Medicaid program. According to Families USA, as much as 40 percent of the state's Medicaid funding - $15 billion over the next decade - could be cut.
State legislators already have written to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., telling him what he already knew. Such a cut would be "devastating to our families" and the state economy.
That is obvious. Every member of the state's delegation in Congress should fight the cuts. Demanding West Virginia do more for Medicaid with fewer dollars is insane and irresponsible. The proposed changes simply cannot be permitted.