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Ronald McDonald Houses ask to keep Medicaid lodging benefit in budget
Summary
Ronald McDonald House Charities testified in support of maintaining a Medicaid lodging reimbursement for families, reporting early program use by nearly 2,000 Ohio Medicaid families and asking the Senate to preserve $5 million in budget support.
Rita Cyr, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities (testifying for Ohio's six houses), told the subcommittee that lodging reimbursement through Medicaid is critical to families who travel for pediatric care.
Cyr said the program's first partial cycle served nearly 2,000 Ohio Medicaid families for approximately 17,000 nights of lodging and estimated that a full biennium could support nearly 4,000 families and more than 34,000 nights. She asked the committee to preserve a $5,000,000 lodging assistance appropriation in the budget and noted that under the current federal matching structure the state's share would be about 50 percent of total costs.
"By supporting this lodging benefit, you are keeping families together and ensuring they remain close to their critical care," Cyr said, adding that Ronald McDonald Houses partner with the Ohio Department of Medicaid to develop the lodging benefit.
Committee members asked no substantive follow‑up questions and the hearing moved on to other items. No formal action was taken at the meeting.
