36,000 Ohioans Could Lose Healthcare Under New Medicaid Law

LAKEWOOD, OH —More than 36,000 Ohioans could be in jeopardy of losing their healthcare under new Medicaid requirements, a Lakewood lawmaker says. The state government is considering a waiver request that would mandate that Medicaid enrollees work if they are under age 55.

State Representative Nickie Antonio, a Democrat from Lakewood, believes 36,036 Ohioans could be in jeopardy of losing their healthcare under this waiver request. She said that if the economy slows, the number of uninsured could be even higher.

“Keeping people sick or taking away their health insurance won’t create more opportunity in our state or make our economy more competitive,” she said in an emailed statement. “This is nothing more than a punitive partisan, one-sided attempt to take away healthcare from people in need of temporary assistance. People want an opportunity for a better life for themselves and their families. Taking away healthcare is not the way to move Ohio forward, it is not a prescription for success”

For their part, Republicans aren't denying Antonio's statistical claims. Greg Moody, John Kasich's director of the Office of Health Transformation, told cincinnati.com that "only about 36,000 Ohioans — or 5 percent of expansion enrollees — will need to find work to keep insurance under the proposal. Most of the 700,000 Ohioans covered under the expansion already are employed."

Barbara Sears, the director of Ohio Medicaid, described the new requirements as "pragmatic" and a way of "promoting economic stability and financial independence" in a letter to the US Department of Health & Human Services.

The waiver process would take two to three years to be put into place.

Two public comment sessions on the waiver have been held in Columbus and Cincinnati. During the Columbus session, Dr. Kevin Kilgallon, a pediatrician, spoke out against the proposal. He predicted many more Ohioans would be left without healthcare because of the work requirements and that loss of insurance could trickle down to the state's most vulnerable residents — children.

"As a healthcare provider I foresee several health concerns from this legislation and I'm not confident that significant financial gains will be made to our benefit," he said during the session. He added that while the waiver doesn't directly impact children's healthcare, it could hurt their caretakers.

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