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Gov. John Kasich appears to have gotten his fourth and deciding Medicaid expansion vote this morning, as Speaker Bill Batchelder, R-Medina, put a pro-expansion state representative on the seven-member board set to meet Monday afternoon.
Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield, who says he is likely to vote in favor of the governor's plan, will substitute for Rep. Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, as the board considers whether to accept federal money to expand Medicaid in Ohio under the Affordable Care Act. Batchelder also appointed Rep. Jeff McClain, R-Upper Sandusky, in place of Rep. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster. McClain told The Enquirer he plans to vote against the proposal.
Both Rosenberger and Amstutz, the two candidates to replace Batchelder as speaker, had been expected to vote against Kasich's request, raising questions about how the governor planned to get the issue through the small board. But the decision to appoint McGregor as a substitute gives Kasich the four votes he needs to make Ohio the 25th state to expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama's health care act.
"Barring any unknown information that would change my mind, I plan to remain consistent in my support of expanding Medicaid," McGregor told The Enquirer Monday morning. "I have publicly stated that I'm in favor of expansion and obviously would have preferred to have done this legislatively, but I am certainly open to the Controlling Board route to kind of get the ball rolling."
After Republicans in the Legislature declined to bring Kasich's Medicaid-expansion plan to the floor for a vote, Kasich this month announced he would seek permission to accept the money through a board made up of six legislators and one Kasich adviser. The governor's appointee and the panel's two Democrats are expected to support his proposal, leaving him in need of one vote from the GOP. As of this morning, he's got it.
As of Monday morning, he's got it - and maybe one more, as Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, is considered a "maybe."
Kasich would become the eighth Republican governor to oversee Medicaid expansion, much to the dismay of many in his party.
"The morality of a human being who's been blessed, helping a human being who has challenges, is a moral imperative in our lives. It just is," Kasich said last week of Medicaid expansion. He spoke of offering drug-addiction and mental-health coverage through Medicaid. "The ability to get our dollars back from Washington, to rehab these people and restore their lives, has to be done. It's just the right thing to do."
Opponents say Kasich is leading a charge to saddle taxpayers with the responsibility of paying for health care for hundreds of thousands of additional Ohioans. Plus, the House Republican protest, signed by all 11 state representatives from the Southwest Ohio delegation, says Kasich's Controlling Board move is illegal.
The constitution lists the General Assembly as the state's only legislative body, the letter says. And Ohio law prohibits the Controlling Board from going against "the legislative intent" of the General Assembly, which the lawmakers say they made clear in anti-Medicaid-expansion clauses passed in the state budget this spring.
If Ohio were to approve the expansion, the state would need a few weeks to activate online enrollment via www.benefits.ohio.gov for the new population of potential Medicaid members. New members would start receiving coverage on Jan. 1.
About 330,000 low-income adults without any option for subsidized insurace would be newly eligible, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a group that analyzes health policy. That's the number of uninsured Buckeyes who are disqualified for coverage under the current Medicaid system and whose income is too low to qualify for federal tax credits designed to subsidize insurance on the new Obamacare exchanges.
Meanwhile, Kasich's expansion move would almost certainly to draw lawsuits, especially from conservatives wanting to argue against the legality of using the Controlling Board for what is essentially a policy decision. Medicaid supporters argue the Controlling Board has the authority to approve an increase in federal money for state agencies. ¦
Local supporters of expansion have scheduled an event Monday night with a twofold purpose.
They hope to be celebrating the Controlling Board's "yes" vote.
But they will continue organizing and planning for a petition drive to put the issue in front of voters in case legal challenges delay or prevent expansion.
This story will be updated throughout the day. CLICK HERE
SOURCE: Cincinnati.com
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