Is OH playing shell game with Medicaid money?

By Maggie Thurber | for Ohio Watchdog

Ohio is projecting $404 million in savings by expanding Medicaid eligibility, and everyone wants a piece.

Policy Matters Ohio wants more spending for police, fire and other government workers. Innovation Ohio says it should go to schools and local government. Lawmakers have their own ideas — across-the-board tax cuts, veterans, workforce development and paying off federal loans for the state unemployment fund.

But something doesn’t add up. If Ohio expands a program to include more people, where are the savings?

“It’s a bit of a shell game going on,” Greg Lawson, a policy analyst at the Buckeye Institute, says.

Since the federal government is picking up the tab for all these new people enrolling because of expanded eligibility, Ohio won’t have to pay for them. So, if the state isn’t paying, it must have saved that money – or freed it up to be spent elsewhere, the argument goes.

But what about the “woodwork effect” from the Affordable Care Act, which describes what happens when people who are eligible but not yet enrolled in Medicaid come out of the woodwork to sign up for Medicaid through healthcare.gov?

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