West Virginia's Uninsured Masses

Census figures released Tuesday fail to reflect the actual number of Mountain State residents lacking health coverage, local officials tell The Associated Press' Shaya Tayefe Mohajer.

"I wish it was right, I'd love it if we had achieved that, but we just haven't," Perry Bryant, executive director for West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, told AP.

"A study from the West Virginia University Institute of Health Policy Research, expected to be released later this year, 'should be much more accurate,'" Perry said.

The Charleston Gazette also hears from critics of the U.S. Census report, and from U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller in a separate but related article. The West Virginia Democrat fears President Bush will carry out his threats to veto recent legislation that would expand the state-based Children's Health Insurance Program for low- and middle-income families.