MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia’s Republican senator, Shelley Moore Capito, is under pressure from those in her state opposed to Medicaid cuts in the Senate GOP health care bill.
West Virginia has one of the country’s lowest median incomes. It’s home to some of the worst rates of drug overdose deaths, smoking, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and disabilities.
Around 3 in 10 West Virginians are on Medicaid, making it the state most dependent on the health insurance program for the poor, disabled and nursing home residents.
Capito says she cares deeply about health care but that changes and reforms to Medicaid are necessary.
One of the few Republicans opposed to the bill as written, Capito says she wants to protect the state’s Medicaid expansion and keep other programs helping her constituents.
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