Legislative Action Needed to Rescue Ryan White Program (5/17/11)
 

H.B. 68: Bipartisan Commission to Reform Behavioral Health (2/7/11)

“By the Numbers”: Mental health services in Ohio (1/26/11)

Health Care Reform Needs Better Prevention Coverage (10/4/10)

Major Components of Federal Health Care Reform (3/31/10)
On March 30, 2010 President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation act, completing health care reform. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became law one week earlier.

Primary Medical Care Shortage Areas and Medically Underserved Areas, Cuyahoga County, 2009

Lack of Health Insurance Concentrated Amoung Working-age Ohioans: New Census Data (9/22/09)
More than one in five working age adults in Ohio’s cities did not have health insurance coverage in 2008, according to health insurance data the Census Bureau released today. These findings and the expectation that the situation will worsen in 2009 highlight the need to enact comprehensive health care reform.

Proposed Funding Levels Push Community Mental Health System to Brink of Collapse (7/7/09)
Governor Strickland’s FY 2010-2011 budget framework proposes deep cuts in General Revenue Fund (GRF) funding for the community mental health system that will leave many Ohioans who have mental illness unable to access mental health treatment services in their communities. Once the costs of Medicaid and inpatient hospitalization are factored out, only $32.4 million, or 4 percent, remain to offset non-Medicaid expenses statewide for the next two years. This translates to the paltry sum of less than $324,000 per county board per year.

Revisiting Medicaid Reform (1/09)

Managing Medicaid: An Update on the Report of the Ohio Medicaid Administrative Study Council (4/09)

SBM: Medicaid and the Impending Train Wreck in Ohio Government (5/1/09)
The evolution of Ohio’s Medicaid program through the decades is exemplary proof of George Santayana’s well-worn admonition: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Consuming four of every 10 dollars in Ohio’s biennial budget, the state’s (and country’s) largest health program is again at the center of controversy, fiddling around the edges of meaningful health reform, and unconstructive political gamesmanship.

Rule Changes are Different, but Both Would Hurt Ohio (4/30/08)
Recent discussions about changes to the Medicaid program, both on the state and federal level, have lead to a fair amount of confusion. In the last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has made a number of rulings that could profoundly limit Medicaid’s reach. These changes break down into two categories: the August 17 CMS SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) Directive and a collection of seven Medicaid changes that are being addressed together.

Governor's Medicaid Health Care Coverage Proposals Appear Sustainable (4/17/07)
Governor Ted Strickland’s Medicaid budget proposal contains a number of coverage expansions and restorations (e.g., restoring Medicaid coverage for 25,000 parents and expanding eligibility for children under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program). Yet, despite these additional costs, the overall annual rate of growth is well below the average annual rate of growth seen since 1999, and the costs of the expansions represent a very small portion of the overall state share of the Medicaid 525 line item and/or the overall state general revenue fund (GRF) appropriations.