The state wants to make some changes for about a million Ohioans on Medicaid, including people who enrolled when the program was expanded by Gov. John Kasich. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports the first step – applying for permission – will happen this spring.
The state has to ask the federal government for a waiver to charge some Medicaid participants premiums of up to $99 annually and suspend coverage for non-pregnant recipients who don’t pay.
Greg Lawson of the conservative Buckeye Institute supports the idea. “This is actually probably more complicated than any other that has ever been tried in any other state.”
But critics such as Steve Wagner at the Universal Health Care Network of Ohio say lawmakers created the plan that Ohio Medicaid now must submit.
“They have to take what the legislature has instructed them to do no matter how they might feel about the coverage changes.”
But input gathered during a 30 day public comment period will be forwarded to the feds as well.