Sen. Brown Applauds Kasich Veto of Medicaid Rollback

CLEVELAND, Ohio, July 1 -- The office of Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, issued the following news release:

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown applauded Governor John Kasich's move Friday to veto provisions in the state budget that would roll back the expansion of Medicaid. Brown said uncertainty in Washington over Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act is hurting states like Ohio. Instead, Brown says both parties need to work together to make healthcare work better.

"I'm proud of our Governor for standing up for Ohio families and doing what's needed to combat the opioid crisis," said Brown. "Washington leaders need to follow Governor Kasich's lead and put party politics aside to do what's right for the people we serve. Instead of one side writing secret bills to kick people off their healthcare, let's all work together to bring down prices and make healthcare work better for everyone."

According to a Harvard study more than 220,000 Ohioans with addiction or mental health disorders now have coverage under the Affordable Care Act - 151,257 through the Medicaid expansion and 69,225 under private insurance purchased through the marketplace. Repeal would kick those people off of their insurance, potentially disrupting treatment services for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans as they are fighting for their lives.

Ohio spent nearly $1 billion dollars to fight the opioid epidemic last year alone, with 70 percent of this investment coming directly from Medicaid. The Senate bill would end Medicaid expansion, which allows thousands of Ohioans to get treatment, and replace it with just $2 billion to address the opioid crisis in the entire country over 10 years.

Experts have said even a $45 billion investment won't work. Simply throwing money at it won't fix the problems in this bill. The money is useless if Ohio doesn't have a Medicaid program to get people covered.