Buchy continues to oppose Obamacare

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COLUMBUS – The Ohio Department of Medicaid recently announced a plan to require individuals utilizing the state’s Medicaid program to make payments in order to receive benefits. The plan is in response to the Ohio House of Representatives passing legislation that will help Ohio’s Medicaid system become balanced after political maneuvering led to Medicaid expansion through federal funding from Obamacare.

Last year the Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 64, which included language to enact the Healthy Ohio Program. Under this program, Medicaid recipients will be required to make co-payments for medical services under certain circumstances. Additionally, the program states that individuals may be required to pay a monthly fee for their healthcare that is the lesser of either $99 per month or 2 percent of their income.

“Medicaid spending is growing like Topsy and steps must be taken to slow the growth in this portion of the budget before it causes bigger problems for Ohioans,” said Rep. Jim Buchy, R-Greenville, 84th District. “With new individuals enrolling in Medicaid now is an appropriate time to establish a commonsense cost sharing program.”

For many Ohioans who are currently paying for their own health insurance, they must factor in a co-payment every time they decide to seek medical care. Under the expansion of Medicaid, co-payments were not required leading many recipients to not exercise cautious restraint before visiting a doctor. Buchy says this lack of caution is clogging our medical system and leads to a bill that Ohio cannot afford.

“Employers often ask healthcare enrollees to cost share in the health program so that they understand the true expense of providing this benefit,” Buchy said. “From an economic stand point costs sharing will reduce fraud and abuse within the Medicaid system and reduce some of the current barriers to timely healthcare.”

According to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Medical Care, the introduction of just a $5 co-payment resulted in a decrease of an estimated 10.9 percent in doctor’s visits by those enrolled in state programs. Increasing the new co-payment structure in Ohio’s Medicaid system is expected to reduce the impact of those who may unnecessarily take advantage of Medicaid because it is free.

The program proposed by Ohio legislators, however, will incentivize preventative care by awarding monetary amounts to a participant’s account when they achieve healthcare goals or satisfy a healthcare benchmark. By doing so, the state is encouraging program enrollees to take proper measures to ensure they do not ignore their health for fear of being charged a co-payment.

Recently, Indiana has adopted a similar policy to require Medicaid enrollees to pay into a system for their benefits, while incentivizing preventative care. As a result, the Healthy Indiana Plan saw a decrease in enrollees utilizing emergency medical care, and more enrollees seeking preventative care and filling their recommended prescriptions. Ohio’s proposed plan is aimed at garnering the same results.

The enactment of Obamacare has left many states considering various pieces of legislation in order to come up with a way to provide healthcare for all residents without ignoring fiscal limitations. The Healthy Ohio Plan is an effort to reduce dependency on state run health care exchanges, which Buchy says are plagued by bureaucrats and technological difficulties.

“Obamacare’s many failures have shown that it is bad policy and I strongly support efforts in the legislature to block this overreach and remain in support of free market solutions that allow for more affordable health insurance options for hard working Ohioans,” Buchy stated.

The Ohio Department of Medicaid’s plan that was announced last week now enters a public comment period that will last from April 21 to May 3, following which the proposal will be submitted to the federal government for approval.

Buchy encourages constituents to visit tinyurl.com/buchyobamacaresurvey to weigh in on this issue.

Staff report

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