State Rep. Sykes speaks about Kasich proposals that could undermine efforts to lower Ohio’s infant mortality rates.
Today, Ohio lawmakers joined with advocates for women’s healthcare to hold a press conference calling for a reversal of policies proposed in the Kasich budget that they say could worsen Ohio’s infant mortality epidemic.
Ohio has one of the highest rates of infant mortality — the number of babies who do not reach their first birthday — in the country, 30% above the national average. The Governor’s proposed budget highlights efforts aimed at addressing the problem, including $13.4 million to connect women in high risk neighborhood with prenatal care. But the budget also contains a number of measures that legislators and advocates say will make the problem worse. [Read more…]
On this first day that millions of Americans can sign up for affordable health insurance under Obamacare, thanks to the intransigence of many republican state lawmakers, hundreds of thousands of Ohioans remain unable to sign up for health coverage.
Today, low-income Ohioans could have been signing up for coverage through Medicaid if lawmakers had approved the state budget proposal to expand the program – as the ACA intended – to people making up to 138 percent of poverty. Currently in Ohio, childless adults and parents making more than 90 percent of poverty have nowhere to go – they cannot enroll in Medicaid, but they make too little to qualify for federal subsidies that make plans on the healthcare exchanges affordable.
Many Ohioans will continue to seek the costliest form of care if Medicaid expansion stalls.
When those Ohioans turn up at emergency rooms with serious illnesses due to a lack of primary care coverage, it is the rest of us who will pay in the form of higher healthcare premiums next year and beyond. It’s possible that the faction of the Ohio GOP caucus holding up expansion is optimistic for this outcome (to the great dismay of those in the hospital industry) in hopes of gaining a political victory when Obamacare fails to live up to its affordability promise.
But without action, 275,000 Ohians will still not have healthcare coverage and the rest of us – businesses and individuals – will pay the cost. Is that worth playing politics over?
The Center for American Progress recently released The State of Women Report, which looks at how women are faring in all 50 states. Using 36 factors in categories such as economics, leadership and health, The Center for American Progress ranked each state. While Maryland was ranked the best state for women, Ohio ranked low, with a 30 and was given a grade of a C-.
Ohio received a C for economic security. Ohio women continue to make 77 cents for every dollar men make. Hispanic women only make 64 cents for every dollar a white male makes. 18 percent of Ohio women live in poverty. This alarming statistic means Ohio has the 19th highest poverty rate for women. Additionally Ohio does not have a policy allowing for paid medical, family or temporary disability leave.
When ranked on leadership factors, Ohio ranked 37th and scored a D. With only one female statewide elected official and only 23.5% of seats in the state legislature held by women, Ohio has a female leadership gap. And even though women make up 52% of Ohio’s population, only 37.2% of the managerial jobs are held by women.
Ohio also scored poorly on health care issues, ranking 30th and receiving a grade of a C-. 12.5% of non-elederly Ohio women remain uninsured and yet the Ohio legislature refuses to expand Medicaid. Medicaid expansion would provide insurance for 256,000 women. On top of this the Ohio legislature continues to pass measures that restrict a woman’s access to reproductive healthcare.
Ohio also has the 4th highest infant mortality rate in the nation. Ohio has 7.7 deaths for every 1000 infants. Despite repeated lip service to the need to reduce the infant mortality rate, little has been done to actually impact this statistic.
Overall Ohio politicians would be wise to focus on a police agenda that promotes and supports women, working to move Ohio up from this dismal ranking.
Yesterday it was reported that the Kasich administration was initiating a push to raise awareness about Ohio’s alarmingly high infant mortality rate.
Ohio has the third-worst infant mortality rate in the United States and that rate is going up while the national average is declining. Today, nearly 8 in 1000 Ohio babies die in the first year of life – and the number is significantly higher among African-American babies.
However, we also learned yesterday that the Kasich administration has no plans to promote awareness of benefits available under the new national healthcare law that could make treatment available to more women and children. As a result, nonprofit groups will be left to get the word out about benefits. West Virginia plans to spend 18 times as much per capita on outreach. [Read more…]
Today, Republicans on the Ohio House Finance Committee voted to adopt changes to the two-year state budget that will significantly restrict the teaching of sexual education in the state, mandating an abstinence-only approach.
According to a provided by the Committee Chairman, Representative Ron Amstutz, the measure would:
prohibit the teaching of sexual education coursework that endorses non-abstinence as an acceptable behavior or promotes sexual gateway activity. [Read more…]
Yesterday, a House committee adopted a version of the state two-year budget (Sub. H.B. 59) that represents a dramatic change from what was introduced by Governor Kasich in early February.
In brief, here’s what’s in and what’s out: [Read more…]
A report released yesterday by the Urban Institute Health Policy Center showed that an Obamacare Medicaid expansion in Ohio would provide coverage to 456,000 currently uninsured residents and actually create revenue for the state for the next decade.
The Kasich Administration is currently deciding whether it will participate in the Medicaid expansion. In the beginning of an expansion, the federal government would pick up 100 percent of the cost to the state. The federal contribution would scale down over the first few years and settle at a 90 percent cost pick up.
The Urban Institute’s work is nonpartisan. As reported by the Plain Dealer, it projects revenue increases in the state based on an increased number of healthcare workers paying taxes and increased tax revenue from managed care providers.
The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based conservative think tank countered the report’s findings – but not with anything resembling reality or facts:
Greg Lawson, a policy analyst with the conservative Buckeye Institute, said he was concerned that Medicaid may not provide the best care possible to enrollees. In addition, he raised a question about promised funds from the federal (government) remaining, considering the federal debt ceiling debates in Washington. (Plain Dealer)
Uhm, isn’t healthcare – any healthcare – better than no healthcare coverage? How does the debt ceiling have anything to do with the settled law that is the Affordable Care Act? (It doesn’t.)
The facts continue to line up on the side of Medicaid expansion being a good thing for states. It’s too bad that Gov. John Kasich hasn’t already agreed to participate, but I’ll take his administration’s word that it’s getting serious consideration and hope that they are simply waiting to make the announcement at budget time.
Bringing the weak stuff to such an important decision is just playing politics – for the most part, the politics of Obamacare are over. Let’s make it work for Ohio.
Today, an Ohio House of Representatives committee meets to consider legislation, HB 613, which sets training and licensing requirements for “navigators” – individuals who help Ohioans find coverage and obtain subsidies from the state’s healthcare exchange, set to launch in 2014.
According to Gongwer (subscription required), the legislation, introduced by GOP Rep. Barbara Sears, was drafted in consultation with the Kasich administration:
Testifying before the House Health and Aging Committee on Thursday, Rep. Sears said the Department of Insurance would like to see the regulations passed during the lame duck session, “as it is part of the blueprint as we move forward with what is required by us by the federal government.” She said she has “worked closely” with DOI Director and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor on drafting the legislation.
Despite the administration’s public protests over the new healthcare law, they are actively working on its implementation prior to a January deadline. Only on its second committee hearing, HB 613 is set for a possible vote in today’s Health Committee hearing. Gongwer notes that, if passed, the legislation would “mark the first time the Affordable Care Act would be mentioned in state statute.”
Opponents of the healthcare law that passed 2011’s Issue 3 measure have threatened to sue over any state law that has the effect of helping to implement the federal insurance mandate, so it will be interesting to see if HB 613 is challenged in court.
As the Kasich Administration decides whether or not to participate in the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, an analyst at the Center for Budget & Policy Priorities provides three essential reasons why saying ‘yes’ would be good public and economic policy.
January Angeles of CBPP testified before a New Jersey state senate committee and recaps three points in a blog post today:
State and local spending on health care services for the uninsured would fall because many uninsured residents would have Medicaid coverage, largely financed by the federal government.
The expansion could strengthen New Jersey’s economic recovery. For every $1 that the state spent on the expansion, it would receive $9 from the federal government. That would equal between $9 billion and $11.1 billion in additional federal dollars coming to the state between 2014 and 2019, according to the Urban Institute.
Research shows that people on Medicaid are more likely to get preventive care than people without insurance. Better health care, in turn, leads to better health. “State Medicaid expansions to cover low-income adults were significantly associated with reduced mortality as well as improved coverage, access to care, and self-reported health,” according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
