The PEIA Crisis is Still Here, Promises to Fix It Go Unmet
Paying bills
Our legislators are returning in the new year to pass the 2027 fiscal year budget. One item creating a stir across the state, but particularly in the eastern panhandle, the economic driver of the state where cost of living is steadily increasing, is healthcare for public employees, known as PEIA.
Despite repeated claims that PEIA is an efficiently run program with less than 5% administrative costs in the budget, PEIA has never been fully funded in the West Virginia annual budget. Cost increases fall to the state institutions and workers, with no guaranteed commensurate pay increase. PEIA fees increased 14% in Fy25, 3% in Fy26, and are projected to continue increasing by an estimated range of 3-7% through 2030. A spousal surcharge has been added to the plan. This surcharge is a set fee, not tiered, so a special education teaching assistant making less than $40k a year is paying the same amount as a superintendent making over $200k. All of these increases, on top of rising costs of living in the Eastern Panhandle (EP) (and across the state), are soon to be exacerbated by ever increasing utilities costs as our legislators sell the state for data center cash-ins.
At PEIA townhalls across the EP in November, GOP delegates claimed that they were working hard to figure out a way to fund PEIA. They shook their heads along with the crowd as folks presented their struggles: Teachers with masters degrees working multiple jobs, leaving the state for higher paying work; Public employees living in cramped apartments to offset the increasing cost of living in Berkeley and Jefferson counties; Folks going without prescriptions to afford other urgent bills.
As the Republican delegates wrung their hands, Democrats were offering solutions. Nine Democratic delegates introduced House Bill 2887, a measure that would decriminalize the sale and consumption of cannabis in West Virginia. In neighboring Maryland, similar legislation was passed in 2023. MD has generated over $1 billion in sales per year, and $40 million per year in tax revenue. West Virginia could pass HB 2887 for similar results, increase regulation and oversight of cannabis, create jobs in the state for farmers, retail and entrepreneurs, all while creating a pool of tax revenue to fully fund PEIA and support/retain our public employees. Why wouldn’t they do it? Half of the country has legalized recreational marijuana. There have not been noted adverse impacts to society and, in fact, in a time when marijuana is everywhere, we could improve safety for consumers through recreational use legislation.
At a town hall, one constituent pointed out: “Our public officials are teaching the next generation of professionals who might care for the very representatives that joined the event this evening. Don’t they want educators and support staff to stay and create the best experience for students? Don’t they want to build a workforce in a rapidly aging state?”
On top of all of this, there is no effort to attract medical professionals into the state to address the healthcare professional shortage. So even while rates increase, patients are waiting 6 months to see a primary care physician. This forces folks to treat their local urgent care or emergency room like a primary care provider, clogging up the waiting room and increasing pressure on already strained emergency services.
Instead of addressing these very real issues that impact the state, Republicans are focused on culture wars. Instead of making everyday life affordable for West Virginians, they are passing bills defining gender and stripping local control from development proposals.
They work for us. Figuring out a balanced budget is their job. If they can’t creatively solve the affordability and healthcare access issues to make their constituents’ lives better, then they need to step aside for someone who will. And if they won’t do it on their own, we must show up and vote them out of office in favor of creative, effective policy makers. I heard a peer at a PEIA town hall say it: “We are in this mess because we keep voting for Republicans, and they don’t care”. Democrats care. Democrats in West Virginia are thinking outside of the legislative box. Let’s give them a chance at the ballot box.
