CLEVELAND — In their biennial budget passed this week, the Ohio House of Representatives included a provision that would enable the state to back out of the Medicaid expansion if federal funding is cut.
In 2013, then-Gov. John Kasich expanded Medicaid in Ohio under the Affordable Care Act, adding 770,000 Ohioans to the roles of the insured. The commitment from the federal government was the state would eventually be responsible for no more than 10% of the cost, with the rest covered by Washington.
"This is irresponsible budgeting," said State House Minority Leader Allison Russo. "I think the Medicaid trigger language is some of the most irresponsible legislating that we could do."
"We are basically tying ourselves to that decision immediately with no [thought], you know how do we responsibly roll back that program in a way that makes sense," said Russo.
State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) added, "If the feds cut one dollar in Medicaid, if this budget passed, almost 800,000 Ohioans in every one of our districts is going to, by their own words, immediately lose healthcare insurance."
But Congress is weighing $880 billion in cuts over the next ten years to Energy and Commerce, which oversees Medicaid, and that's something House Finance Chair Brian Stewart said they have to be prepared for.
"I think both the governor and the legislature have acknowledged that if that happens, that's a massive shift of costs onto the state of Ohio," he said, arguing this would give the state a way to respond if cuts are made. "Medicaid expansion was done under the promise that that promise from the federal government would not change, and so if the federal government would change its promise, we have to have the ability to make changes at the state level as well."
Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) has repeatedly told News 5 that Ohioans needn't fear cuts to Medicaid, something he reinforced Thursday.
"I absolutely stand by that. I don't see any Medicaid benefits being cut at all. We're looking at eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, we're looking at ways to make the system more efficient," he said.
However, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that Medicaid accounts for 93% of the non-Medicare spending under Energy and Commerce.
News 5 asked Moreno, "How does Medicaid not get cut?"
"Well, you got to remember, first of all, that's a number over 10 years. So $880 billion over 10 years, that's $88 billion per year. You look at waste, fraud and abuse that's a big chunk of that money, probably somewhere around $20 or $30 billion," he said. "You look at the state-directed work requirement for able-bodied Americans, that some estimates are as high as $100 billion and then of course you look at process improvements."
"This is something I know a lot about from the private sector. There's ways that you can do things through technology and efficiency to deliver better services for less money. Government has never done that and I think we can easily get to that $88 billion a year number on Medicaid by just doing efficiency."
