Ohio Senate committee hears testimony on limiting Medicaid growth, expansion

If Medicaid spending growth were limited to the recent medical inflation rate, Ohio could expand Medicaid eligibility and still save money compared to not making any changes to the program, according to testimony provided this week by Amy Rohling McGee of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio and William Hayes of the Ohio State University to the Ohio Senate’s Medicaid Finance Subcommittee (Source: “Ohio could save and expand Medicaid, study says,” Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 14, 2013).

The HPIO/OSU analysis, which was conducted at the request of Republican Sen. David Burke and Democratic Sen. Capri Cafaro, found that a cap on spending coupled with Medicaid expansion could yield $6 billion in annual savings by 2025, compared to projected spending if no changes are made to the program and spending growth continues at the 10-year average.

 “To me, that is the first fact-based analysis by any party that has shown you can lower costs, both federal and state, if you craft the right policy to get there,” said Burke, who chairs the Senate’s Medicaid subcommittee that received the report.

All analysis material is available at www.hpio.net/medicaid.