House budget amendment spares Metrohealth’s Medicaid waiver program

An Ohio House committee on Tuesday accepted an amendment to the House state budget proposal that protects MetroHealth's experimental Medicaid waiver program, which has the potential to expand insurance coverage to 30,000 low-income people in Cuyahoga County (Source: “MetroHealth's Medicaid waiver program sees sign of hope in Legislature” Crain’s Cleveland Business, April 17, 2013).

Under the Medicaid waiver program, MetroHealth will use its $36 million annual subsidy from Cuyahoga County to draw an additional $64 million annually from the federal government to finance the expansion.