Biden administration decision protects Ohioans’ health & well-being
Posted August 11, 2021 in Press Releases
Today the Biden administration announced it would withdraw approval of Ohio’s Medicaid work requirement waiver. Policy Matters Ohio Senior Project Director Wendy Patton released the following statement:
“Today, as the COVID pandemic continues to make Ohioans sick, the Biden administration refused Gov. DeWine’s proposal to erect new barriers to the state’s largest health care program, Medicaid.
“Medicaid has been critical in safeguarding the health and wellbeing of millions of Ohioans of all races and backgrounds. The health care program helps people recover from drug and alcohol abuse disorder. It makes sure new moms have post-partum care they need and it supports the economies of our big cities and rural small towns.
“The DeWine administration proposed imposing new rigid reporting requirements on people enrolled in the state Medicaid program, which provides health care for people paid very low wages or who cannot work because of a disability. Federal officials said DeWine’s proposed barriers could strip up to 163,000 people of coverage, in part because many people have no smart phone or computer for reporting; many lack broadband access and many could lose coverage due to the many glitches in the state information technology (“Ohio Benefits”) that would run the program.
“With the pandemic surging again, and long term health impacts of COVID not fully understood, this is no time to implement a program that would cause thousands of people to lose access to a doctor’s care.
“Health care is a human right. The Biden administration did the right thing in stopping this harmful public policy from going forward.”