This report details West Virginia's experiences with Medicaid reform, examining flexibility of benefits plans and best practices in delivery of services.

From the report: 

A big casualty of the congressional health care reform legislation would be the loss of state flexibility in the financing and delivery of affordable health care options for their citizens. Under the House bill, the federal government would regulate private insurance for the first time and dramatically increase its control over the Medicaid program. Flexibility will be sacrificed for uniformity and federal control. Congress is ignoring important lessons that states have learned. It should pay particular attention to West Virginia, which has experimented with Medicaid reform and has learned a lot about what those reforms accomplished.

Full report: http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm2582.cfm

The Heritage Foundation. (2009). Health care reform in West Virginia: a lesson from the states. Smith, D.G.