On January 10, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) submitted a request to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to update its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirement waiver. The number of counties in Ohio that would be exempt from the work requirements would drop from 42 to 13 and...
Author: Loren Anthes
January 13, 2020
Medicaid enrollees asked state for more collaboration from managed care plans and providers. Will they listen?
Each time the Ohio legislature deliberates the state’s $65 billion biennial budget, its members are translating the power granted to them through elections into policy, appropriating dollars on behalf of the 11 million Ohioans who are served by the state government. It is true most of the resources budgeted for Medicaid come from the federal...
October 28, 2019
Medicaid Substance Use Disorder waiver is a critical tool
On September 24, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Ohio’s 1115 Substance Use Disorder Demonstration waiver (SUD waiver). The approval of the SUD waiver represents years of Medicaid policy debate about the role and scale of the behavioral health delivery system as Ohio grapples with the consequences of the opioid epidemic and...
August 26, 2019
Creating quality for kids: A review of Ohio Medicaid’s focus on value based reimbursement
Before taking office, then Governor-elect Mike DeWine signaled that children’s issues would be a central component of his policy platform with the creation of the Office of Children’s Initiatives in January 2019. Ohio Medicaid plays a major role in the health care of Ohio’s children, with nearly half of all kids (1.2 million) receiving coverage...
July 17, 2019
State makes significant investment in Multi-System Youth
The Center for Community Solutions supports efforts to change the practice of forced custody relinquishment, so families don’t have to give up custody so children can receive needed behavioral health and developmental services. Multi-system youth (MSY) are children and teenagers with complex needs that cannot be met by a single state or local agency. Multi-system youth (MSY)...
July 17, 2019
One waiver out, one waiver in
The Center for Community Solutions is committed to monitoring and researching the impact of waivers or other proposed changes to Medicaid eligibility or access. During this biennial Ohio budget process, we kept track of a variety of proposed changes that had the potential to affect this population. After some deliberation, the Healthy Ohio proposal from the House...
April 22, 2019
The Chopping Block: How Medicaid Block Grants Will Create Access Problems for Ohio’s Kids
More than 1 million children, or 40 percent of all children in Ohio are covered by the Medicaid program. As the largest single source of health coverage in the United States, Medicaid plays an integral role in ensuring successful outcomes for children from birth and throughout adolescence. It is primarily responsible for decreasing the uninsured rate...
March 25, 2019
Medicaid Director highlights “realistic” budget approach, including no new rate increases
During her first testimony as the Medicaid Director before the Ohio House Finance Committee, Maureen Corcoran stated that the amount allocated to Medicaid in the executive budget met the target growth rate of 3.3% put forth by the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC). Later in the day, at our first Medicaid Institute of the year,...
March 15, 2019
Medicaid work requirements: Why transparency is needed in Ohio’s eligibility waiver
Now that the federal government has approved the Ohio Department of Medicaid’s Group VIII Work Requirement and Community Engagement Section 1115 Demonstration Waiver, Governor Mike DeWine’s administration should do everything it can to ensure it is meeting its obligations for data transparency, legally, and as a matter of public interest. Such a significant potential cut...
December 26, 2018
Medicaid freeze would hurt families, increase health costs
After a series of vetoes by the governor, the General Assembly seems primed for some last minute veto overrides before the end of what has been a very active lame-duck session. Of particular consequence is the threat of “freezing” the Medicaid expansion. Evidence shows that this program is a true safety net, with the majority...