Kasich budget plan includes Medicaid premiums

Gov. Kasich’s biennial budget plan, which was released this week, funds Medicaid expansion, but also includes a provision to begin charging monthly premiums for enrollees earning between 100 and 138 percent of the federal poverty level (Source: “Premiums for Medicaid enrollees, infant mortality prevention targeted in Gov. John Kasich's budget,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 2, 2015).

State law already authorizes the state director of Medicaid to change eligibility as needed, and the state in 2013 expanded eligibility in the government medical insurance program to Ohioans earning 138 percent of the federal poverty level or less.

Kasich wants to charge premiums for adults above 100 percent of the federal poverty level -- more than $11,770 for an individual or $24,250 for a family of four. The premiums would cost $15 to $22 a month.

Greg Moody, director of the state Office of Health Transformation, said the premiums aren't intended to recoup the cost of providing health insurance, but to prepare Ohioans for paying monthly premiums once they can afford private insurance. Ohio Medicaid enrollees already pay co-payments for some services.

Other health policy related items in the governor’s budget include:

• Providing nutrition education and health care referrals to low-income pregnant and postpartum women and offering free in-home informational visits, in an effort to reduce infant mortality
• Allocating $4.1 million in state funding and $12.7 million in federal money over two years toward tobacco prevention and cessation programs
• Spending $316 million over two years to allow more disabled Ohioans to receive care and services in their homes and communities instead of institutions
• Allowing nursing homes to be eligible to receive additional state funds for meeting new benchmarks
• Providing  breast and cervical cancer screenings to a total of 10,000 women