OHIO — As lawmakers in the Ohio House get set to vote on the budget Wednesday, community leaders say Medicaid is in danger.
If the federal government reduces funding, more than 700,000 low-income Ohioans would be at risk of losing coverage.
Sandra Black is a single mother of two who cares full-time for her 16-year-old daughter, Naomi.
“She has Down syndrome, and she was born with a brain tumor, so because of the brain tumor, she has cerebral palsy and visual impairments, you know, significant cognitive issues,” Black said. “I worked as a registered veterinary technician, so I was credentialed, and you know I had a good job and I worked full time until after Naomi was born and her medical needs you know required me to miss so much work.”
Though unemployed, Black has health insurance through Medicaid expansion.
This is the Obamacare program that provides access to health care for households making less than 138% of the federal poverty line, or around $44,000 a year for a family of four.
But language in the governor's proposed budget could put coverage at risk for thousands of Ohioans, Teresa Lampl CEO the Ohio Council of Behavioral Health & Family Services Providers said, if Congress cuts funding for Medicaid expansion.
“As proposed, the budget would have added a trigger language,” Lampl said. “Meaning if the federal government changes the federal contribution from 90% to anything less than that coverage group would immediately terminate.”
Conservatives argue a trigger law is necessary because of the uncertainty in Washington
“If the feds change anything about how Medicaid is funded, you could blow a multibillion-dollar hole in your budget like that,” Greg Lawson, research fellow of the Buckeye Institute, said. “Well, that happens or not, we don’t know and that’s happening in Washington, but it could have a downstream effect.”
The House version of the governor's budget includes a transition period during which the department of Medicaid would have to help affected recipients find other low-cost insurance.
Lampl said the transition period will do little to help if the trigger language isn't changed.
“They left the trigger language that says they ‘shall’ immediately terminate coverage and that we really need them to align so that it’s a ‘may,’” Lampl said.
Lampl said for Medicaid recipients who may be worried, one solution would be to reach out to their elected officials and make it known how Medicaid is helping.
The Senate is currently putting together its own version of the budget. It needs to be signed into law by the end of June.
For Black and her daughter, the meanings of two small words could have big implications.
“I have several medical issues that require prescription medication and without Medicaid my, literally my life would be at stake,” Black said. “If something happens to me whether temporarily or permanently, then Naomi won’t have anyone to take care of her.”