The opiate crisis in Ohio has precipitated many policy conversations about how to curb opiate-based mortality, provide better treatment and encourage recovery. Providers, lawmakers and The Center for Community Solutions have all looked at the ways in which Medicaid policy could be leveraged to address this need. As we have written about previously, the General Assembly has looked to 1115 demonstration waivers as a way to experiment with Medicaid policy, and the opiate epidemic is not immune from such consideration.

One of the most troubling realities in our community is that our infant mortality rate – the rate of babies who do not live to their first birthday – is significantly higher than the national average. In Cuyahoga County, nearly nine babies out of every 1,000 live births die, compared to a national infant mortality rate of just under six. In 2016, 128 babies in Cuyahoga County did not make it to their first birthday. Still more troubling is that African-American and Latino babies die at even higher rates. In Ohio, the infant mortality rate for black babies is 15.2- about two and a half times higher than the rate among white babies.

The Ohio Cities Fact Sheets highlight demographic projections, educational attainment, employment, income, poverty, health coverage, Medicaid, health indicators, and human services participation in all of the cities within Cuyahoga County and in several large cities across the state.