COLUMBUS – Ohio lawmakers return to work this to try to override some of Gov. John Kasich’s vetoes of parts of the state budget, including a freeze on Medicaid expansion.
The Republican-led Legislature will attempt an override vote on Thursday.
The liberal group ProgressOhio has scheduled a “Save Medicaid Save Lives” Rally at the Statehouse at noon on Wednesday. The group says the freeze, set to take effect on July 1, 2018, 500,000 Ohioans would lose access to health care.
Conservatives had called on the outspoken Kasich to set a national example by leaving in place the provisions calling for freezing new enrollment under Medicaid expansion and preventing those who drop off from re-enrolling. But, Kasich has been one of the Republican Party’s staunchest defenders of the expansion.
A conservative group led by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist wants the legislature to let stand Kasich’s veto of a proposal to increase taxes on health insurers that would have sent money to counties and regional bus services.
Lawmakers proposed the idea to offset lost revenue from a sales tax being discontinued by the federal government on Medicaid-managed care organizations. Kasich administration officials say he vetoed the $207 million tax increase proposal because it would’ve risked losing a bigger chunk of money and created a $615 million loss for Medicaid.
Norquist wrote Tuesday for his Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform urging legislators to reject any efforts to override the veto on raising health insurer taxes. He says asking Washington for a tax hike “is not a good look for Ohio.”