By Kat Stoll
January 18, 2022

I first met Samples when he worked for the West Virginia insurance commissioner. He is a sharp and dedicated who cares deeply about low-income West Virginians. I deeply respect how Samples has weathered political change in our state and kept his eyes on the big goals, like reducing the number of uninsured West Virginians. State administrators often go without accolades and, too often, become the public scapegoat for harmful policies they did not ask for or create.One of Samples’ skills is lifting his head out of the daily details of running a state bureaucracy and pinpointing big issues and problems that need addressed.

By Kat Stoll
January 8, 2022

On the first day of 2022, pharmaceutical companies increased prices on 460 medications, with most prices up5% to 6% on average, according to the research firm 46brooklyn.

I guess that journalists reporting on prescription drug price increases only need to paste in the latest increase to the same headline year after year. This year’s price increases were comparable to last year’s. The number of drugs that had January price increases by year: 629 (2021); 385 (2020); 359 (2019); 538 (2018); and 494 (2017).

By Mike Tony
Jan 7, 2022

Jeffrey Gordon, 72, of Morgantown takes the podium in front of the FamilyCare Health Center location on Charleston’s West Side on Dec. 14 out in favor of the Build Back Better bill. Gordon and others expect the plan to lower prescription drug costs under Medicare Part D, one of s projected benefits prompting the bill’s backers to push U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., to end their to the bill.