Governor Puppet Dances for Obamacare Money - Update

Ohio Governor Kasich successfully used an end-around to accept Obamacare money and expand Medicaid in Ohio, however, opposing lawmakers are still working to nullify the decision of Kasich and the Controlling Board.

After the board’s 5-2 vote to accept federal money to expand Medicaid, six GOP lawmakers and two anti-abortion groups filed suit to stop Medicaid expansion unless the full Ohio Legislature grants approval.[...]

The Republicans who have filed suit now have 10 days to file their evidence and briefs. The Ohio Supreme Court is trying to speed the suit along, since the Medicaid expansion to more than 300,000 new Ohioans is set to take effect Jan. 1.

Meanwhile, other Republican lawmakers are trying to take non-legal action, either to make the Medicaid expansion more palatable to them or to keep the Controlling Board from being able to have a similar vote in the future.

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Governor Puppet Dances for Obamacare Money
[Previous 10/13/2013 post]



Gov. John Kasich
Ohio Governor John Kasich has been pushing for Medicaid expansion in Ohio since he made the decision that turning down federal money offered through Obamacare (as done by some other states) would be wrong for Ohio. In a speech last April at the Lake County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner, he explained why his two-year budget proposal included the expansion and stated, “We cannot fear new ideas, we cannot fear change."

The expansion, made possible under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, would be 100 percent federally funded for the first three years... 

Ohio was granted approval by the Obama administration [October 10th] to amend its Medicaid program so that people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($32,499 for a household of four) could be covered.

But the GOP-dominated Ohio House stripped expansion from the budget and has held fast in its opposition. 

The governor is determined and will try an end-around to get the monies that are available through Obamacare.

Having failed to win the approval of the full Republican-controlled legislature, Gov. John Kasich will seek to expand Ohio’s Medicaid program by getting permission from a small spending oversight panel made up mostly of lawmakers.

... On Oct. 21, the Kasich administration will ask the seven-member Controlling Board to approve spending about $2.56 billion in federal money to cover an estimated 275,000 low-income Ohioans under Medicaid.

Reasons for [the legislature's opposition] span from general GOP objections to Obamacare, to worries about increased federal spending, to concerns over what would happen to Ohio’s finances if federal funding for expansion disappears.

For more information regarding how the Ohio Controlling Board functions, go here.

I disagree with the governor. We CAN fear new ideas and change when that change can lead to increased dependence on the government and more federal debt.

Posted by Note Taker