COLUMBUS, Ohio – A central Ohio lawmaker is planning to address Medicaid reform, months after a plan was dropped from the state budget.
State Sen. Dave Burke (R–Marysville) is planning to introduce what he says will be a comprehensive Medicaid reform package.
His bill was crafted after a series of hearings across the state and will address “the long-term sustainability of Ohio’s Medicaid system,” Burke said.
Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, proposed expanding Medicaid to 275,000 additional Ohioans in his budget proposal, but the measure was scuttled by GOP lawmakers under pressure from tea party sympathizers who objected to it because it was funded through the Affordable Care Act, the health care reform program known as “Obamacare.”
Lawmakers said they were concerned the federal government would not be able to maintain the $13 billion in federal aid needed to fund program long-term.
Kasich argued it was unfair to refuse the federal dollars and legislative leaders promised to work on the issue through the summer..
The Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010, allows the federal government to fund 100 percent of Medicaid coverage to individuals with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level from 2014 until 2016, when the funding is decreased.