A Big Day for Medicaid in Ohio: Not So Fast
Nina Owcharenko Schaefer /
The fight over Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is still raging in Ohio, and today will be a decisive day in that battle as Governor John Kasich (R) attempts to use executive authority to ram through an ill-advised Medicaid expansion.
Proponents try to sell the expansion as a conservative policy that even Reagan would support, but Former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Buckeye Institute President Robert Alt explain three reasons this is not the case:
- One, the Obamacare expansion does nothing to help pregnant women and children and due to its funding structure, prioritizes others ahead of these vulnerable women and children.
- Two, the Obamacare expansion adds layers of new regulations on the states, not fewer. If there is one thing states can agree on, it is that the current Medicaid rules undermine flexibility needed at the state level.
- Three, the Kasich approach undermines the state legislature’s clear intent. The legislature has made its views clear when it rejected the Governor’s plan.
The board is scheduled to vote today on this latest and desperate move by the Governor, but a new report by the Buckeye Institute raises strong concerns over the legal authority of this whole process. So regardless of the outcome of this latest and desperate move by the Governor, it is far from over.