Medicaid expansion supporters gathering signatures for ballot initiative

With leaders in the Ohio General Assembly indicating that action on Medicaid expansion is unlikely before October, supporters of extending eligibility to all Ohioans earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level have begun collecting signatures to put the issue on the ballot next fall (Source: “Group gathering signatures for Medicaid expansion ballot initiative,” Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 30, 2013).

A formal announcement is expected next week from a coalition of businesses, unions, health-care providers, religious organizations, consumer groups and advocates for the uninsured, but signatures for an initiated statute are already being collected, said Jon Allison who is among those leading the petition drive and heads the Ohio Alliance for Health Transformation. 

Once a petition with the required number of signatures of registered voters is submitted to the Secretary of State, the General Assembly has four months to act on the proposed law. If lawmakers fail to approve it or take no action, additional petitions may be circulated to place the proposal before voters. The earliest it could reach the ballot would be November 2014.