West Virginia has had plenty of bad news when it comes to its rankings among the states in terms of various measures of wellbeing. In one category, however, the Mountain State outshines nearly everyone else, and it is a category of tremendous importance to our future. West Virginia ranks fourth in the nation for lowest rates of children without health insurance.

That is huge, and it was accomplished almost entirely here at home. A report from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families showed 97 percent of West Virginia kids are insured either by private insurers, the West Virginia Children’s Health Insurance Program or Medicaid. That puts us right up there with states such as Massachusetts or Vermont for the way we take care of our kids.

But there are still kids left in the lurch. According to Jeremiah Samples, Department of Health and Human Resources deputy secretary for Public Health and Insurance, many of the kids in that remaining 3 percent are “between coverage” or have parents working for companies where family coverage was eliminated after the implementation of Obamacare.

In speaking to another publication, Samples said “because (employers) now have to provide additional benefits or a higher coverage threshold that will be more costly – they drop their family plans. … It has, in some ways, created a new uninsured group.”

That last bit is generally not mentioned by the folks in Washington, D.C.

But the fact remains, almost all West Virginia kids are covered, now; and that means a chance at a healthier start. Congratulations, to those who made it happen.