West Virginia: QHPs up 6K since 4/19; Med up 4,500; Uninsured plummets to 6.6%!

Wow! This editorial is fairly short but chock full of great up-to-date enrollment data: Exchange QHP enrollment has risen exactly 6,000 people since April 19 (an increase of over 30%); the Medicaid expansion tally is up by 4,556 to 132,556 people (almost 93% of the total eligible), and the overall uninsured rate has plunged from 17% to just 6.6%...all in less than 10 months. Amazing.

President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act is a superb success in West Virginia, according to new reports.

A total of 132,556 lower-income West Virginians have gained coverage through the Medicaid expansion approved by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. An additional 25,856 were able to enroll in subsidized private insurance plans. And about 18,000 young adults were allowed to remain covered by their parents’ policies until age 26.

That’s more than 176,000 Mountain State people who gained the ability to visit a doctor, get prescriptions filled or receive hospital care. Hurrah. It’s a big advance for compassion and humane values. Everyone should have access to medical treatment, and nobody should be left out.

A personal finance website, Wallet Hub, says West Virginia now is among America’s top states in ACA success. It says 17 percent of state residents formerly had no health insurance, but now the rate has dropped to 6.6 percent. And the improvement was gained with only slight state taxpayer cost.