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 The proposed Medicaid freeze, which would deny coverage to hundreds
of thousands of Ohio residents who lack job-related health insurance
and cannot afford to purchase their own, was adopted as part of a
$65 billion two-year budget plan.
The measure, approved by mostly party-line votes in both chambers of
the state Legislature, would prohibit enrollment of new Medicaid
recipients, or re-enrollment of lapsed beneficiaries, after July
2018.
Republicans, especially hard-line conservatives, say the Medicaid
freeze is needed to help reduce costs.
Democrats say halting the Medicaid expansion, begun in Ohio under
the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act, would leave the state's
neediest residents without coverage and ultimately raise healthcare
costs for everyone.
Kasich, a moderate Republican who sought the 2016 Republican
presidential nomination and has been a vocal supporter of Medicaid
expansion, could use a line-item veto against the freeze while he
considers signing the broader budget legislation before a Friday
deadline, his office said.
Republican lawmakers could then attempt to muster enough votes to
override Kasich's veto, although Kathleen Clyde, a Democrat in the
state's House of Representatives, said on Wednesday she doubted
whether there were enough votes to override a Kasich veto.
"Instead of providing a path to the middle class for those
struggling with underemployment, drug addiction and low wages,
Republican leaders are gutting Medicaid, threatening healthcare
access to over 700,000 Ohioans," Clyde said in a statement after the
vote.
Ohio is among more than 20 U.S. states that have expanded Medicaid
enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare,
largely with funding through federal dollars, according to the
National Conference of State Legislatures.
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Congressional Republicans in Washington have sought for years to
repeal the law, and Kasich has been a vocal critic of legislation
passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and a similar bill
awaiting a vote in the Senate that would dismantle Obamacare.
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan office, said
this week that 22 million Americans would lose insurance over the
next decade under the U.S. Senate Republican healthcare bill.
Insurance losses are expected to grow beyond 22 million due to deep
cuts to the Medicaid insurance program that are not scheduled to go
into effect until 2025.
Kasich told the New York Times earlier this month he could accept a
gradual phase-out of expanded Medicaid if Congress provided states
with more money than the House-passed healthcare bill would furnish
with more flexibility for the state to manage its own program.
(Additional reporting and writing by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle;
Editing by Steve Gorman)
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