Sunday, January 24, 1999
Medicaid expansion supported
Group wants more working adults insured
BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Uninsured parents in working Ohio families earning up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level might receive Medicaid coverage under a plan supported by several organizations.
A statewide coalition has been in contact with one of Gov. Bob Taft's aides and would like the governor to include expanded coverage in his first budget plan. It is due to the General Assembly by March 15.
The General Assembly would have to pass a law or empower the Ohio Department of Human Services to expand Medicaid coverage for adults. Medicaid uses a combination of federal and state money to provide health care to the poor.
Mr. Taft's administration is reviewing all issues and proposals, an aide said.
Ohio has expanded Medic aid coverage for children 18 and under in families earning less than 150 percent of the poverty level. The governor supports raising the limit to 200 percent of poverty for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Coalition members, who are beginning to contact legislators, say the lack of health insurance is a major barrier to stable employment for families moving from public assistance to work. They say most entry-level jobs don't provide health insurance benefits or that those offered are not affordable.
“The No. 1 reason people become unemployed is that an illness, like asthma, devastates a family,” said Margaret Hulbert, government relations director of Cincinnati's United Way. “They are forced to get back on welfare to get Medicaid coverage.”
Besides the United Way, the local coalition includes the Legal Aid Society, Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and Cincinnati Health Council.
The chamber sees Medic aid expansion for parents in working poor families as a way to stabilize the Tristate's work force.
The health council, which represents the Tristate's 33 hospitals, supports the plan because its members are experiencing staggering increases in uncompensated care for working people who have no health insurance.
Overall, supporters say, the Medicaid expansion would increase the chances for self-sufficiency for former welfare recipients and decrease the number of families cycling off and on the welfare system.
Some local officials have their doubts about Medicaid expansion for adults.
“The adult version takes us a step closer toward nationalized health care, which I'm not sure is the direction I want to go or the community wants to go,” said Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus, who supported CHIP. “The public sector could be covering costs of the private sector. If em ployers want to keep their work force, they ought to put these things in place.”
A similar coalition of pro-expansion groups has formed in Dayton, Ohio, and Ms. Hulbert says she expects that all of Ohio's major cities will be in line to support the program by the end of the month. The United Way of Ohio also supports the plan.
Single adults and childless couples would not be eligible. The plan would cover between 70,000 and 140,000 parents.
The estimated cost for the plan is between $100 million and $200 million a year, Ms. Hulbert said. The federal government would pay between $60 million and $120 million, and the state's $40-million-to-$80-million share could come from money being paid to Ohio in the tobacco settlement.
The state's first tobacco payment — $120 million — is expected this spring. Lawmakers will decide how that money and subsequent annual payments, ranging from $323 million to $422 million, will be spent during the next 25 years.
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