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Expanding Health Coverage for Ohioans
By U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown
Guest Column
Since its creation in 1965, Medicaid – a joint federal and
state program – has provided low-cost health insurance to
Ohio’s most vulnerable, including the elderly, physically
disabled, and children.
Beginning in 2014, the health law gave each state the
opportunity to expand its Medicaid program to also cover
working families and individuals with incomes up to 138
percent of the federal poverty level. Thanks to Ohio’s
decision to expand Medicaid, more than 2.8 million Ohioans
now have health insurance. But that health coverage is being
threatened.
If the Ohio legislature doesn’t agree to include Medicaid
expansion in its budget this June, more than 450,000 Ohioans
could immediately lose their health care coverage and Ohio
could miss out on more than $2.5 billion each year in
federal funds.
Medicaid expansion comes at a low cost to Ohio. For states
that opted-in, beginning in 2014, the government began
paying 100 percent of the costs for newly eligible
individuals. Ohio won’t pay a dime for the expanded program
until 2017 – at which point the federal share will never
fall to less than 90 percent of the costs. Because the
federal share of the costs of the expanded Medicaid program
is so generous, it costs states less to cover newly eligible
individuals than it does to cover those individuals who sign
up for Medicaid under traditional standards.
Already, Ohio has saved $350 million because of Medicaid
expansion and we’re on track to save even more. We can’t
afford to let this program disappear.
When people don’t have health insurance, we all end up
paying for their medical costs. Without the preventive care
covered by health insurance, low-income Ohioans can face
expensive emergency room visits that they can’t afford to
pay. The cost of this care is usually passed on to taxpayers
in the form of a “hidden tax” that costs Ohioans $2.3
billion every year – approximately $1,000 per insured
family. Expanded Medicaid coverage helps reduce this burden
on insured Ohioans while keeping healthcare affordable,
saving lives, and saving money.
We all benefit from expanding health coverage to those that
need it most and I urge the Ohio state legislature to
include Medicaid expansion in the budget.
We should be helping Ohioans gain health care – not cutting
them off.
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