November 2017 ~

The Ohio Controlling Board voted unanimously to continue funding for the state’s Medicaid Program, releasing $264 million in state funding needed to qualify for $638 million in federal matching funds.

The program currently provides health care to more than 1 in 4 residents. Prior to the decision, Medicaid Director Barbara Sears told the state Controlling Board that failing to authorize Ohio’s share of program spending risked “devastating” consequences for program providers and the 3 million Ohioans that Medicaid serves. Sears stated, had the funding not been approved, Ohio would have simply continued spending until the program ran out of money, around May 2018.

Administration under Governor John Kasich’s expressed concern that without funding approval, it would have had to cut provider payments 16%, affecting areas including home health, behavioral health, hospitals, doctors and other Medicaid providers, beginning in January to avoid running out of finding for the program and to keep the state budget in balance.

Medicaid sets plan rates in November for the six months beginning January 1, 2018. Another $311 million in state spending must be authorized for 2019 to qualify for $750 million in federal funds, rounding out the Medicaid agency’s $2 billion two-year budget.

 

Source(s): Columbus Dispatch; TimesReporter; The News-Herald;