DeWine, Husted, Taylor Missing in Action on Medicaid Expansion Freeze

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 6 -- The Ohio Democratic Party issued the following news:

As Republicans like Gov. John Kasich work with Democrats to preserve Ohio's Medicaid expansion ahead of this morning's line-item veto override vote in the state House, Republican candidates for governor Mike DeWine, Jon Husted and Mary Taylor are missing in action on this critical issue.

"Today's vote will determine whether half a million Ohioans lose their health coverage, and Mike DeWine, Jon Husted and Mary Taylor can't be bothered to say a word about it," said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. "Hospitals will shutter, Ohioans with mental health and addiction issues will suffer, and DeWine, Husted and Taylor are ducking and covering. This is a moment for leadership, and the Ohio Republican candidates for governor are failing this test miserably."

Last week DeWine declined to take a position on whether he supported Kasich or the Republican legislative leaders, whose state budget included a freeze of the Medicaid expansion program -- a provision that could result in 500,000 Ohioans losing their health coverage. Kasich used a line-item veto to strike down that provision, but the Ohio House will vote today on overriding the veto.

Husted has steadfastly refused to take a position on Medicaid expansion or the Affordable Care Act repeal legislation making its way through Congress -- legislation that Kasich opposes.

Taylor has stated she opposes Medicaid expansion, but she has said nothing about whether she supports her former running mate in vetoing the Medicaid expansion freeze provision.

The fourth GOP candidate in Ohio's gubernatorial race, Congressman Jim Renacci, backs freezing the state's Medicaid expansion program. In his statement last week criticizing Kasich's line-item veto, Renacci erroneously claimed that Medicaid expansion negatively impacted drug treatment programs.

As Ohio's state government has cut funding to local governments to deal with the opioid epidemic, the single-biggest resource to fight this crisis has been Medicaid, which pays for about half of all medication-assisted treatment in our state. Medicaid provides about $650 million of the $1 billion the state spends annually on dealing with the opioid epidemic.

In addition, more than 150,000 Ohioans with addiction or mental health disorders now have coverage through Medicaid expansion.