Medicaid expansion could be cut in Ohio

June 21--COLUMBUS -- The state Senate will vote today on a proposed two-year budget that would freeze enrollment in Ohio's Medicaid expansion next year, a move Democrats argued could represent the beginning of the end of the controversial program.

The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday voted to set a deadline of July 1, 2018, to enroll in Medicaid before the door closes.

Sen. Scott Oeslager (R., Canton), the committee's chairman, said enrollment would proceed normally until then. Those in the program may continue to receive coverage after the deadline. But then enrollment will close, and those who fall off the program because of income or other eligibility changes would not be able to re-enroll if their situations change.

"We're not taking anybody at all who's been enrolled in the program out of the program," he said. "... This freeze will help us evaluate where the budget is a year from now. More importantly, perhaps, we'll see what's happening in Washington."

He said lawmakers would eventually revisit the issue after they know how Congress plans to deal with state Medicaid expansions and former President Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act.

"This is an issue that is in line with the governor's recent comments that he may be supportive of a phase-down of Medicaid expansion that's being tossed about by the Republicans in Washington D.C.," said Sen. Michael Skindell (D., Lakewood), the committee's ranking Democrat.

"We think this is part of that effort," he said. "Even if D.C. doesn't address it, if they don't have enough votes for it, they're going to start doing it here in Ohio anyway."

The bill also keeps work requirements, with some exceptions, that were added by the House for able-bodied people who receive health coverage through the expansion. The Senate, however, removed bureaucratic hurdles that the governor's administration would have to clear every six months to draw down the state's matching funds to pay for the expansion.

Gov. John Kasich did an end-run around many of his fellow Republicans in the General Assembly three years ago to convince the Ohio Controlling Board, a quasi-legislative budgetary panel, to draw down federal funds to initially pay for Medicaid expansion.

The proposed budget includes language designed to limit the controlling board's ability to draw down large sums of unexpected funds again in the future.

Until now, the Republican-controlled General Assembly has begrudgingly acquiesced to the program, quietly appropriating the state's matching funds in the current budget.

More than 700,000 Ohioans now receive health care through the expansion. The federal government currently pays 95 percent of the expansion's cost. Under federal law, participants may earn as much as 38 percent above the federal poverty level to qualify.

The full Senate is expected to send its take on the next budget back to the House today. That should set up a joint conference committee charged with hammering out a compromise capable of passing both chambers. House Bill 49 must reach Mr. Kasich's desk before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

The Senate's vision also includes a provision to try to help school districts like Benton-Carroll-Salem in Ottawa County that have experienced or expect to see a devaluation of local power plants that contribute to their tax base.

In Benton-Carroll-Salem's case, it's the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant owned by FirstEnergy Solutions. But the plan also affects schools with coal-powered plants that have seen their values, and corresponding property tax bills, decline.

Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green) said the provision would help compensate for losses but would not completely replace the lost revenue.

The committee also included a provision to ease property setback restrictions in current law when it comes to siting wind farms. The wind power industry had argued that changes enacted two years ago made the siting of future wind farms impractical.

However, some of those living near such farms have claimed that having turbines so close to their parcels represent a de facto taking of their property.

"There are seven [projects] that are on hold and ready to go," said Sen. Cliff Hite (R., Findlay), who worked on the compromise. "People are standing on shovels and waiting to hear from us [by the budget deadline] in 10 days. It's $4.2 billion for my district alone."

Current law sets the minimum setback at 1,225 feet from the tip of the closest turbine to the adjacent property line. The new setback would be 1,225 feet from the nearest adjacent property structure.

It would also allow a single adjacent property owner to waive the setback rule for his land instead of requiring all the neighbors to agree before a project could move forward.

Among other new changes, revised House Bill 49 would:

-- Create civil liability for employers who prohibit their concealed-carry permit employees from storing handguns and ammunition in their private motor vehicles on business property.

-- Allow the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to take an electric utility's credit rating into consideration when setting customer rates. The Ohio Consumer's Counsel and the Ohio Manufacturers Association immediately objected to the move.

-- Keep the already approved removal of a House-passed provision that would have prohibited Toledo and other cities from enforcing their own lead safety ordinances.

Contact Jim Provance at: [email protected] or 614-221-0496.

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