ohio statehouse June
Gov. John Kasich is again proposing some Medicaid enrollees pay monthly premiums. The federal government last year rejected lawmakers' plan to charge premiums and other fees.
(Jackie Borchardt, cleveland.com)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. John Kasich is again proposing some Ohio Medicaid enrollees have a stake in their health insurance coverage by paying monthly premiums.
Childless, non-pregnant adults with incomes above the poverty line would pay approximately $20 per month. The change requires federal approval, but the estimated $100 million a year savings was factored into Kasich's two-year budget plan.
Kasich first proposed the idea in 2015 as part of the state budget.
The goal is to prepare people to move from Medicaid to a private health insurance plan when their income increases and disqualifies them from the federal- and state-funded health insurance program for poor and disabled people.
State lawmakers expanded on the idea. Their proposed "Healthy Ohio" program would have required people to pay into a health savings account every month and lose coverage for failing to do so. The money would have also been used for copays and other costs.
The state Department of Medicaid estimated more than 125,000 people would lose health insurance coverage as a result.
The federal government rejected the proposal last year.
Kasich's budget proposal would also require more Medicaid enrollees to sign on to privately-run managed care plans.
Ohioans with disabilities
The budget allocates an additional $122 million over two years toward efforts to serve people with developmental disabilities.
The money would expand a program using technology to remotely monitor people with developmental disabilities from 170 to 600 people.
The funding also creates an additional 300 waivers for people who want to leave an intermediate care facilities and receive care at home.