As budget woes continue to plague the state of Ohio, lawmakers are looking for ways to decrease spending.
One of the state’s most costly programs, Medicaid, is under review for possible spending reductions. The program provides health insurance to healthy families with incomes at or below federally defined poverty levels in addition to the elderly, blind and disabled.
The program has come under scrutiny because of its unsustainable growth.
“It goes up by $1 billion each budget,” said Rep. Tim Grendell. “It’s outspending education.”
Medicaid coverage is provided through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. In the 2002 state budget, ODJFS was appropriated $12 billion of the budget, and Medicaid alone consumed approximately $7 billion of the total.
Gov. Bob Taft, along with ODJFS, has made proposals in this year’s budget to curb Medicaid spending. A large portion of Ohio recipients will be affected by the cutback in eligibility for working parents to receive Medicaid.
Under the system, working parents of children in the Healthy Start program were eligible for health coverage under Healthy Families, if their income was at 100 percent of the poverty level or under. With these cutbacks, their income must be much lower, and an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 working parents would lose their Medicaid health coverage, although their children up to age 19 would still be covered.
According to Dennis Evans, a spokesman for ODJFS, the new eligibility requirements would be set back 70 to 90 percent of the federal poverty level.
Cathy Levine, executive director of the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio, agrees Medicaid reform is needed but this is not the way to go about it.
This means a family of three making only $15, 200 a year will no longer be eligible for Medicaid. This program used to enable lower income people to go to work, now they will have to go back on welfare just to receive health insurance, Levine said.
“If a parent loses a job because of an untreated health condition (they miss too many days of work due to their condition), their children will end up on welfare,” she said.
While the Healthy Families portion of Medicaid makes up the largest number of recipients, the aged, blind and disabled use more of the Medicaid funds.
Evans said coverage for the aged, blind and disabled is more costly because of prescription drug benefits and long-term care, such as nursing home coverage.
The elderly and indigent are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, but because Medicare doesn’t cover prescription drugs, Medicaid ends up picking up the tab. Also Medicaid is responsible for providing the elderly with long-term care, which is also costly, said Evans.
Grendell said while the budget was in the House of Representatives, some of the cuts in Medicaid proposed by the governor were put back, such as dental and eye care for those on Medicaid.
“There was actually a $100 million increase in Medicaid spending in the House,” said Grendell.
The budget is in the Senate for review.
When asked if the governor was prepared to veto any items that included additional spending for Medicaid in the state’s budget, Taft’s spokesman Orest Holubec said it was too early to tell.
“The governor will continue to work with the Senate to obtain these cuts,” Holubec said.
If the cuts in eligibility are passed, those affected will no longer be eligible for Medicaid as of Oct.1 2003.
Evans agrees there are some tough decisions to make in cutting Medicaid spending.
“The goal this year is to protect the children and lessen the impact on them,” he said.
