Ohio cancels plan for $1.1 billion Medicaid cut to hospitals

The state has canceled a planned $1.1 billion Ohio Medicaid cut to hospitals, saying an uptick in the economy and reshuffling money in the health care program has prevented the reduction (Source: “Ohio cancels $1.1 billion Medicaid cut to hospitals,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 11, 2018).

The cut would have represented 5 percent of what Ohio Medicaid pays hospitals to treat some 3 million program recipients who qualify based on their incomes, health conditions and disabilities, among other factors.

Gov. John Kasich's administration had proposed cutting hospital rates by about $500 million beginning Jan. 1, said Greg Moody, director of the Ohio Office of Health Transformation. Then additional Medicaid cuts were added by the House and Senate last summer, when lawmakers crafted a two-year state budget, Moody said.

Hospitals had been bracing for the across-the-board cuts to go into effect in January. But the administration announced it was able to delay those cuts to July 1, thanks to reconfiguring Medicaid rates the state pays to managed care organizations. Then at the end of May, the administration told hospitals it wouldn't have to make the cuts at all.