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State Senate Majority Whip Ryan Weld promised last week that the Senate, on the first day of the 2023 Legislative Session, would pass out a fix for the West Virginia Public Employee Insurance Agency's funding mechanism for in-state providers. That happened Wednesday, with Senate Bill 127 now moving on to the House of Delegates for approval.
SB 127 would require reimbursement from PEIA at 110% of similar services offered by Medicare. Currently, that rate is slightly more than half of what Medicare pays.
This has led WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital to decide that as of July 1, if PEIA funding is not fixed, it will no longer accept patients on the state's plan.
That can't be allowed to happen.
"More needs to be done, but this will be a good start," said Senate Health Chairman Mike Maroney, R-Marshall. "We're going to avoid a bigger problem. Wheeling is the first hospital. There are other hospitals discussing this right now and there will be more. They're waiting to see what happens this session."
"… We were able to make the first steps toward solving our crisis with PEIA. …" added Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkely. "I'm proud of the leadership we showed as a body today."
The Senate should be commended for moving quickly on this matter. House members now must do their part.