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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Uncompensated Care Costly for WV Hospitals, Insured Families

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Monday, November 30, 2009   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - According to federal figures, uncompensated health care costs West Virginia nearly half a billion dollars a year. That's mostly because people who have no health insurance end up being treated in hospital emergency rooms, which are very expensive.

Perry Bryant, who heads the group West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, says that raises private health insurance premiums by $1,000 a year per family, and covering the uninsured would reduce that expense.

"Those bills for the uninsured are cost-shifted onto those of us who still have private health insurance, so people covered by those plans should see significant reduction in their premiums."

Critics of the health care reform plans being debated in Congress complain that they will cost too much, but Bryant says the reforms should save money by getting nearly everyone into the system.

Many of West Virginia's small, rural hospitals have been struggling to stay open. In part, they say, it's because uncompensated care is a constant drain on their budgets. Bryant points out that covering the uninsured could be an important improvement for them.

"It will have a very positive impact on hospitals. They will begin to get paid for services they were providing for free or for very little money."

The uncompensated care estimate is from U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Resources. More information is available at www.wvahc.org.




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