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Providers and advocates warn Ohio Senate that trigger language could strip health care from 770,000 people
Summary
Health care advocates, rural hospitals and social-service groups told the Senate Medicaid Committee that House Bill 96 language tying state coverage to federal funding levels would abruptly end Medicaid expansion for roughly 770,000 Ohioans and damage hospitals, behavioral-health services and community providers.
Members of the Ohio Senate Medicaid Committee heard unified testimony on May 8 from providers, advocates and legal-aid lawyers urging lawmakers to remove so-called trigger language in House Bill 96 that would terminate Medicaid expansion if the federal Medicaid assistance percentage (FMAP) drops below a set level.
The warning was stark: removing expansion would immediately cut coverage for about 770,000 Ohioans and could push rural hospitals and community providers into crisis. "This provision threatens to dismantle a health-care system that has steadily improved the lives of those nearly 800,000 Ohioans," said Brandy Kesey, health and public benefits attorney at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality.
Supporters of expansion told senators the policy shape and the budget are…
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