Industry · WV
Former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, CHIP co-author, dies at 89
West Virginia Watch reports that Jay Rockefeller, a former West Virginia governor and five-term U.S. senator, died Friday at age 89. Rockefeller served as governor from 1976 to 1984 and in the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 2015, where he was a lead author of the Children's Health Insurance Program and championed the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Former colleagues and West Virginia officials, including Gov. Patrick Morrisey, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, former Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, and West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, offered tributes citing his work on healthcare access.
Why it mattersState Medicaid agencies and CHIP advocates may note the passing of a legislator whose work helped shape the joint state-federal children's health insurance program they administer today.