Currently, the State of Ohio has a backlog of more than 70,000 applications to review and approve for Ohioans hoping for access to health coverage. State administrators point to its online eligibility system and caseworker turnover as the reasons for the delays, but a proposal by the Ohio House of Representatives could make that bureaucratic mess even worse.
As part of its budget proposal, the Ohio House added a provision called, Healthy Ohio, which would require people enrolled in Ohio’s Medicaid expansion to set up health savings accounts through the state. This adds a complicated step for consumers – many who have a mental illness or are fighting a major medical diagnosis – and just one more barrier to add to the Medicaid backlog.
Healthy Ohio would make our access to health coverage harder to get and keep. State lawmakers should be focused on reducing the backlog, instead of putting more logs on the fire.
Don Bryant
Councilman At-Large
City of Mansfield
