Joe Rugola

At a May 1 press conference, Rugola decried workplace freedom as “extreme.” Asked by reporters why 24 states already have workplace freedom laws on the books if the policy is extreme, Rugola said, “all of Germany went extreme in 1933 … that doesn’t make it wise.”

Rugola added, “Extremism as a majority notion does not necessarily pass the test of good government, good policy, sound democracy.”

OAPSE, a local of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), staunchly opposes letting workers choose whether to pay a labor union. Rugola, a former president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, has worked with other union bosses to frame expanded worker rights as an attack on worker rights.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, Rugola was asked whether he meant to compare the introduction of right to work legislation with Nazi Germany and he replied, “no, I meant to compare it to extremism.”

An Associated Press story on the dueling May 1 workplace freedom press conferences quoted Rugola extensively but did not mention his allusion to Nazi Germany.

“America’s right-to-work states are the poorest, most unhealthy and undereducated states in the union. That is a fact,” Rugola asserted, warning that “right-wing extremist legislators” and corporations driven by “godless greed” were looking to rob Ohioans of their rights.

In recent years, Ohio has lagged far behind workplace freedom states in terms of job creation, wage growth, and disposable income growth.

But Rugola, who was paid a quarter of a million dollars in forced dues last year, exclaimed that it was OAPSE’s “intention with every fiber of our being to make war on those who want to make war on the American middle-class.”

Over-the-top rhetoric is nothing new for Ohio union bosses, who torture common sense and the English language to avoid the truth about workplace freedom. When Michigan’s legislature passed right to work in December 2012, union front group We Are Ohio compared their actions to the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Although Joe Rugola may currently be in the lead for the most hateful, ignorant comment in Ohio’s workplace freedom debate, he is not the highest paid Ohio union boss. That distinction goes to Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Patricia Frost-Brooks, who was paid  $267,916 last year based on OEA’s latest report to the Department of Labor.

Review OEA’s workplace freedom talking points and the propaganda from We Are Ohio to learn how Rugola’s suggestion that workplace freedom is like Nazism fits with union desperation to maintain the flow of mandatory dues.

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

Nine of Ohio’s top ten Republican recipients of union contributions since January 1, 2011 are state senators – and three of those are members of Senate leadership.

The ten Ohio senators who received the most from labor unions through the April 17, 2013 pre-primary reporting deadline are shown below.

“We have an ambitious agenda focused on job creation and economic recovery, and Right to Work legislation is not on that list,” Faber said hours after a  May 1 House press conference introducing workplace freedom legislation.

“After discussions with other leaders and my caucus, I don’t believe there is current support for this issue in the General Assembly. The only purpose this discussion serves right now is to generate a bunch of breathless fundraising appeals from the Ohio Democratic Party.”

Why would Senate Republicans oppose securing workers’ freedom to choose whether to join or pay a union, even after neighboring Indiana and Michigan both implemented workplace freedom in 2012?

Union bosses – who responded to the introduction of workplace freedom bills by likening House Republicans to Nazis – have given more than $670,000 to Republican members of Ohio’s House and Senate since 2011 to ensure this outcome. Over $540,000 of that total has gone to the ten senators listed above.

Private industry and government labor unions have contributed a combined $199,200 to Sen. Faber, Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Widener, Senate Majority Floor Leader Tom Patton, and Senate Majority Whip Larry Obhof.

Governor John Kasich and his allies suggest workplace freedom isn’t necessary to keep Ohio competitive because Kasich’s economic policies have been wildly successful, but U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics data tell another story.

“In 2012, with Gov. Kasich’s policies firmly in place, Ohio only added 42,300 jobs — a 58 percent drop from 2011 and the 39th best in America,” Opportunity Ohio President Matt Mayer wrote in an April 30 Akron Beacon Journal op-ed. “In fact, from June 2012 to March 2013, Ohio’s private sector grew by a mere 3,700 jobs or just 500 jobs per month. For 2013, Ohio has lost 1,700 net jobs so far.”

Following is a list of the top ten Senate Republican recipients of union contributions from January 1, 2011 through April 17, 2013 in a format more conducive to copying and pasting.

• Sen. Tom Patton (R-Strongsville), Majority Floor Leader: $116,050
• Sen. Jim Hughes (R-Columbus): $113,145
• Sen. Frank LaRose (R-Copley): $53,900
• Sen. Scott Oelslager (R-North Canton): $53,350
• Sen. Chris Widener (R-Springfield), President Pro Tempore: $47,250
• Sen. Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville): $38,535
• Sen. Kevin Bacon (R-Minerva Park): $37,850
• Sen. Larry Obhof (R-Medina), Majority Whip: $32,900
• Sen. Randy Gardner (R-Bowling Green): $28,300
• Sen. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati): $22,050

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

Rep. Roegner noted that a joint resolution to put workplace freedom on the ballot this November has been introduced, as well. Almost immediately, Ohio Senate President Keith Faber (R-Celina) issued a statement throwing cold water on all three House proposals.

“These three pieces of pro-worker legislation are designed to secure Ohioans’ freedom in the workplace, and would eliminate compulsory unionism in our Buckeye State,” Roegner said before listing the 24 states – including neighboring Indiana and Michigan – where unions are already prohibited from taking mandatory dues from workers.

“While economic benefits are compelling for why Ohio should do this, it is a fundamental principle of worker freedom which is driving this legislation,” Roegner added.

Explaining why the legislation was being introduced as two separate bills and a joint resolution, Roegner said, “Representative Maag and I thought that having these two bills and the joint resolution would provide the most flexibility for the General Assembly and the workers in Ohio to decide how to approach this important issue, and give good flexibility to finding solutions.”

Assistant Majority Floor Leader John Adams (R-Sidney) cited a study by Ohio University professor Richard Vedder which “found that between 2000 and 2008, 4.8 million Americans moved from forced-union states to right to work states. That’s one person for every minute of every day.”

Rep. Adams pointed out that workplace freedom states are rapidly closing the historic gap with states where workers can be forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

Readers can watch the entire Statehouse press conference below.

Although Roegner clearly stated her belief that economic reasons for adopting workplace freedom are trumped by the principle of freedom of association, legacy media reporters at the press conference seemed baffled that a workplace freedom bill was being introduced while Governor John Kasich insists the state’s economy is rebounding.

“This did not come from the governor’s office,” Roegner explained. “It’s our responsibility to introduce legislation that we believe would be best for Ohioans, so we’ve done that.”

Reporters’ questions – like their news coverage to date – also reflected a fixation on Senate Bill 5, the 300-page public union reform bill defeated by a landslide in November 2011 after a $40 million union campaign.

“Senate Bill 5 was about collective bargaining and putting sort of guardrails around collective bargaining,” Rep. Roegner said. “This is quite the opposite of that. This is saying, ‘workers, you have the freedom to join a union, to pay to be represented by them, or not,’ so to me this is quite the opposite issue.”

“This is all about freedom, individual freedom to choose – you know, that resonates with people, it really does, and poll after poll shows that,” Roegner responded to another question.

“Unions would say it’s all about mooching,” NPR reporter Jo Ingles interjected. Ingles and other reporters appeared agitated that House conservatives are introducing legislation so reviled by union bosses.

“We knew extreme politicians were going to try to enact revenge with so-called ‘right to work’ and this week it happened,” union front We Are Ohio spokesman Dennis Willard wrote in an email sent several hours before the Roegner and Maag presser. “Two anti-worker lawmakers introduced legislation to lower wages, reduce benefits, and make your job and your co-workers’ jobs less safe.”

Refer to previous Media Trackers coverage to see how Ohio stacks up against workplace freedom states:

• Compared to Ohio, Wage Trends Favor Workplace Freedom States
• The Deadly Truth About Workplace Freedom
• Ohio’s Disposable Income Growth Lags Far Behind Workplace Freedom States

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

Dispatch Chairman & Publisher John Wolfe

“By opening the door to a bill to expand Medicaid to more Ohioans, Senate President Keith Faber has kept alive the possibility that the state can avoid an expensive mistake,” the editorial board began, referring to Faber’s stated intent of pursuing Medicaid reform separate from the biennial budget.

The Dispatch editors insisted House Republicans “had no rational or practical reason for opposing” the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Medicaid expansion, which “will save the state money” with an estimated $13 billion in new federal spending from 2014 through 2020.

America’s national debt is roughly $16.8 trillion, but the Dispatch editors think rejecting the PPACA Medicaid expansion is irrational “because the federal government has pledged to pay the premiums” for three years “and at 90 percent after that.”

State and national experts including a member of the Medicare Board of Trustees have warned DC cannot hold up its end of the bargain, but that’s something the Dispatch has neglected to report.

Dispatch Printing Company publisher and CEO John Wolfe, head of the paper’s editorial board, sits on the executive committee of the Columbus Partnership and is a member of the Ohio Business Roundtable, two groups whose members include hospital CEOs eager for more taxpayer money.

“Accepting the expansion not only means that 275,000 additional Ohioans have health-insurance coverage, it means the state will spend less on health care than it does now,” Wolfe and the other editors asserted. Unless the Dispatch has evidence the world will end on June 30, 2015 concurrent with Governor John Kasich’s two-year budget, this assertion is false.

The PPACA Medicaid expansion would increase Ohio’s annual Medicaid spending by over half a billion dollars by 2021, according to the left-leaning Urban Institute’s projections. This is just one more fact the Dispatch editors claim does not exist because the Dispatch editors have chosen to ignore it.

No one really knows how many Ohioans would be added to the Medicaid rolls if the state expanded the entitlement program. No one knows how much the new enrollees would cost, either, but the Dispatch hasn’t acknowledged proof that Medicaid expansions in other states cost far more than estimated and failed to increase the prevalence of health coverage as promised.

Feigning interest in the economics of the PPACA Medicaid expansion and pointing to business groups’ support for more government spending, the editors warned that failing to expand Medicaid would put hospitals in “financial distress” and result in care costs being “passed on to insured patients.”

Most of Ohio’s nonprofit hospitals would net millions per year without the charity care offsets PPACA may (or may not) begin phasing out next year, as Media Trackers first reported on March 11. But, the Dispatch has never questioned warnings from the millionaires who lead the Ohio Hospital Association even when someone else does the legwork and presents facts that contradict the hospital lobby.

Who would pay for the billions in new state and federal spending if Ohio expanded Medicaid? This question is not relevant, because the Dispatch editorial board has decided it is not relevant.

Concluding with a falsehood touted by the Kasich administration and other proponents of the PPACA Medicaid expansion, the Dispatch editors wrote, “turning it down changes nothing. Obamacare isn’t going away. Federal spending isn’t going to be changed materially by Ohio’s refusal to participate.”

It’s easy to see how Dispatch readers might believe “opposition to Medicaid expansion is purely ideological,” if readers trust that the Dispatch has reported both sides of the story.

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

“Now, it goes without saying, on Medicaid you need two chambers to move a bill, and the House has indicated they simply don’t have the votes to get Medicaid expansion done in the budget,” Faber said. “Therefore, I do not believe Medicaid expansion is on the table as it relates to this legislation, the budget.”

A floor amendment added to House Bill 59 (HB 59), the budget passed in the House on April 18, calls for the legislature to work with Governor John Kasich’s administration on a Medicaid reform package after reviewing their options more closely over the summer. Contrary to reports from the legacy press, the amendment was written specifically to prevent Ohio from adopting the PPACA Medicaid expansion.

Later in his remarks, Sen. Faber reiterated, ”Let me say this clearly: I don’t think Medicaid expansion is possible in the current budget.”

Ohio Senate President Keith Faber (R-Celina). Click for Ohio Channel video.

“That’s not to say we’re ending the debate on Medicaid reform,” Faber continued, explaining that Medicaid Finance Subcommittee chair Sen. Dave Burke (R-Marysville) would “open up a working group that will explore all sides of Medicaid reform, and see if we can reach a consensus.”

“The House has also indicated they intend to explore reform in a separate, standalone bill,” Faber said. “I had a great conversation with Speaker Batchelder yesterday where he relayed some of the progress they have already made in this effort, and asked us to let the House continue to do the work on this as a standalone bill.”

“We are willing to work with the House as our partners with the governor, and we, too, are going to be having a Medicaid reform work group who will work in concert with the House and the governor.”

Any Medicaid reform introduced in the House as a result of the HB 59 amendment must, based on the language approved in the House, “Lower net state and federal costs for the Medicaid program” and “Reduce the number of individuals who enroll in Medicaid over time.”

Outright adoption of the PPACA Medicaid expansion would do none of the above, and no “private option” Medicaid expansion yet discussed would lower net state or federal costs for the entitlement program.

“I’ve asked Dave Burke to chair that effort, and I have members on all sides of Medicaid reform. They simply want more information,” Faber said. “They want to know the consequences, both short- and long-term, of making a commitment with the federal government. They want to know what the ongoing conversation, ongoing liabilities, from both the administration and the federal government will be.”

Time is not on the side of PPACA Medicaid expansion proponents, who have relentlessly misrepresented the results of expanding or failing to expand the program.

For the past several months, the Kasich administration, Ohio Hospital Association, and progressive activists have hammered false, emotional talking points in the hope of pressuring the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly into accepting a major component of President Obama’s foundering 2010 health law.

“I do believe Medicaid reform is possible through the process that the House, and the administration, and now the Senate are going to engage in,” Sen. Faber concluded before transitioning to another topic.

“What that reform will mean will be dependent in large part on the flexibility the federal government agrees to give us, and the initiatives and ingenuity our members and the administration and Director Moody can come up with. That may include adding more people to the Medicaid system, but it has to include flexibility to perform and frankly, transform a system that works better for Ohioans.”

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

“Many thanks to those of you who worked so hard to see that House legislators said ’NO’ to the federal government takeover of healthcare in our state,” Ohio Liberty Coalition President Ted Stevenot wrote in an evening announcement. “To achieve this outcome, scores of you dedicated countless hours to making calls, knocking on doors, and meeting with legislators to express your concerns.”

“We are pleased at the outcome in the House today, and we are grateful to the legislators who stood strong,” Stevenot added. “Our eyes now turn to the Senate as well as to any possibility of Medicaid legislation arising in the House in the future.”

Democrats made impassioned pleas to restore Medicaid expansion to the budget, repeating many of the outrageous claims Governor Kasich, the hospital lobby, newspapers, and socialized medicine advocates have been making for months.

Rep. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), a sponsor of a standalone Medicaid expansion bill and cosponsor of a universal health care bill,  introduced an amendment to reinstate Medicaid expansion as originally proposed by the Republican governor on February 4.

“The people have spoken – they’ve spoken loud and clear,” Antonio insisted. “They’ve told us to expand Medicaid. It’s good for Ohio, it’s a positive economic strategy that would underwrite jobs and keep Ohio tax dollars at home.”

“It would be fiscally irresponsible, anti-business, and harmful to more than 1 million Ohioans if we do nothing,” Rep. Antonio continued. “It would create new jobs for Ohio citizens. It’s been estimated that at least $13 billion over the next several years could come into Ohio.”

Rep. Barbara Sears (R-Monclova Twp.) responded to Antonio’s proposed amendment by noting that a separate amendment would address Medicaid expansion. Rep. Matt Huffman (R-Lima) motioned to table Antonio’s amendment, and the amendment was rejected on a 58-39 vote.

Rep. Sears later introduced a floor amendment calling for the House to explore a broad “rightsizing” of the state’s Medicaid program.

“This amendment will permit the Medicaid Director, working with the General Assembly, to seek approval for a proposal that will serve as an option for the House to consider,” Rep. Sears explained.

Sears listed “reducing enrollment” and developing a reform package that “improves health outcomes with the goal of lowering net state and federal costs” as priorities of the amendment.

“We will be going to school on this issue over the summer,” Rep. Sears added.

Rep. Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) introduced an amendment to the Sears amendment, summarizing his proposal as “something in the middle of doing straight Medicaid expansion and doing nothing.”

Foley’s amendment, language rejected by the budget committee earlier in the week, would “allow and direct the Director of Medicaid” to apply for a waiver with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to expand Medicaid as a “three-year demonstration project.”

“We’ve got a whole bunch of economic reasons why we need to do Medicaid expansion in the state of Ohio,” Rep. Foley said before repeating the popular falsehood that Medicaid expansion “will bring a lot of money back into the state.”

“If we really want to create jobs in the state of Ohio, this is one way to accomplish it,” Foley claimed.

Rep. Foley is the primary sponsor of a standalone bill that would create a new state agency to provide universal health care. After a motion to table by Rep. Huffman, Foley’s amendment was rejected by a vote of 59-38.

The Sears amendment – which conservatives feared would strongly resemble what Rep. Foley proposed – was approved by a 97-0 vote before HB 59 passed the House with a vote of 61-35.

It is not considered likely that the Ohio Senate will reintroduce the PPACA Medicaid expansion as it considers the budget approved by the House, but both the Ohio Liberty Coalition and Ohio Rising have made it clear they will continue helping liberty-minded activists counter pressure from Governor Kasich, progressive activists, and the health care lobby to dramatically expand the entitlement program.

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

Former OHA President & CEO James Castle, who was replaced by Michael Abrams this February, was paid $600,198 by the hospital lobbying group in 2011.

The current chair of the OHA Board of Trustees is James Pancoast, CEO of Premier Health Partners. According to the Dayton nonprofit’s latest IRS filing, Pancoast was paid $832,888 in 2011.

The Cleveland Clinic paid Fred DeGrandis, the immediate past chair of the OHA board, $874,928 in 2011.

OHA Board of Trustees member James May was paid $1 million as president & CEO of Mercy Health Partners Southwest Ohio in 2011.

OHA trustee Michael Szubski was paid $837,756 as treasurer and chief financial officer (CFO) of Cleveland’s University Hospitals Health System in 2011, while OHA trustee Cynthia Moore-Hardy, president & CEO of Lake Health, was paid $611,137.

OHA Board of Trustees chair-elect Phillip Ennen and board member Claus von Zychlin were both paid more than $450,000 in 2010. In 2011, OHA trustees Robert Montagnese and Dale Thornton were both paid more than $350,000.

Other executives at OHA member hospitals and networks were paid even more handsomely, with more than a dozen receiving over a million dollars each year.

In 2010, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital paid retired former executive James Anderson $4.2 million, and OhioHealth paid President & CEO David Blom $1.6 million.

Cleveland Clinic Lorain Institute Chair John Costin was paid $3.9 million in 2011, and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Chair Marc Harrison was paid $1.2 million.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Clinic paid international operations director Andrew Fishleder $3.2 million, president & CEO Delos Cosgrove $2.3 million, chief of staff Joseph Hahn $1.1 million, chief of operations William Peacock $727,699, and chief legal officer David Rowan $635,452.

Summa Health System President & CEO Thomas Strauss was paid $1.7 million in 2011. Akron Children’s Hospital Director & President William Considine was paid $1.5 million, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital Director & CEO Steve Allen was paid $1.1 million.

University Hospitals Health System paid CEO Thomas Zenty III $1.6 million, president & chief operating officer (COO) Achilles Demetriou $1.5 million, Case Medical Center President Fred Rothstein $1.1 million, and University Hospital Medical Group President Michael Nochomovitz $1 million in 2011.

Also in 2011, Kettering Health Network President & CEO Fred Manchur was paid $1.1 million.

Dozens of other Ohio hospital CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and legal counsel pull down at least $500,000 annually, and in many cases medical department heads are paid even more than executives.

Ohio’s adoption of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Medicaid expansion would increase state Medicaid costs by hundreds of millions of dollars while increasing federal Medicaid spending in Ohio by billions. Governor John Kasich has fully embraced the claims of OHA and other health industry lobbying groups that these costs are necessary to help hospitals provide charity care, as PPACA will phase out existing charity care offsets.

Based on a Media Trackers review of OHA members’ most recent IRS filings, charity care offsets represent a trivial portion of total hospital revenue.

Even with no charity care offsets, positive net revenue reported by the Cleveland Clinic, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, OhioHealth, or the University Hospitals Health System could have easily covered the combined shortfalls of every OHA member with a net loss during the latest reporting period.

Hoping to convince the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly that the state can expand Medicaid temporarily and back out if the federal government – which is currently $16.8 trillion in debt – cuts funding, OHA and Governor Kasich have cited a memo from a major Columbus law firm.

“A memorandum from the Columbus law firm Bricker & Eckler for the Ohio Hospital Association argues that ‘nothing’ in the Affordable Care Act or its Supreme Court reinterpretation prevents the Buckeye State or any other from opting out without being punished, as long as they include the right caveats. Mr. Kasich is using this memo as his legal justification, but he needs better representation,” The Wall Street Journal editors wrote on March 15.

“These supposed sunset clauses are really a roach motel. Once states check into new Medicaid, the almost certain legal reality is that they can never check out.”

Bricker & Eckler, LLP may not be the best source for legal guidance that could yield billions in new taxpayer spending for Ohio Hospital Association members, considering that the firm provided $288,071 in legal services to OHA in 2011.

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

Please share this video to help Media Trackers counter the fact that Ohio’s major newspapers have endorsed the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, marginalized its opponents, and printed puff piece after puff piece about health industry lobbyists, socialized medicine advocates, and progressive politicians.

For more information about the charts, quotes, and arguments in the above video, refer to my previous reporting and analysis:

• John Kasich’s Billion-Dollar Medicaid Expansion Bluff
• Ohio Hospitals Would Net Millions Without Charity Care Funding
• Newspapers Ignore Facts Central to Medicaid Expansion Fight
• Can Ohio Expand Medicaid Temporarily?
• Ohio Socialized Medicine Lobby Rallies Like It’s 2009
• Ohio Legislators Still Considering “Private” Obamacare Medicaid Expansion
• Medicare Trustee Cautions States on Obamacare Medicaid Expansion
• More Than a Quarter of Ohio Doctors Reject New Medicaid Patients
• Gov. Kasich Enlists Socialized Medicine Lobbyists to Help Implement Obamacare
• With Medicaid Expansion, Gov. Kasich’s Credibility Collapses

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

After years of failed “stimulus” bills, broken health reform promises, and trillion-dollar deficits from President Obama, the rally mirrored past events demanding the passage of PPACA itself.

A speaker in front of an AFL-CIO banner addresses the April 11 Ohio Medicaid expansion rally

The event, organized by the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio (UHCAN Ohio) and other partners of Advocates for Ohio’s Future, was billed as the “People! Not Politics” rally. Nothing says “apolitical” like a gathering of progressive activists, labor unions, and health industry lobbying groups demanding billions in new government spending.

On a rainy Thursday afternoon, attendance was surely less than organizers had hoped for – but what the People! Not Politics rally lacked in turnout, it made up for with empty propaganda.

After National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Ohio President Bob Spada began the rally, attendees chanted, “Health care works! Health care works! Health care works!”

“It is a sin to not care for those who at times cannot care for themselves,” Rev. Jawanza Colvin of community organizing group Greater Cleveland Congregations insisted during his invocation.

Between each speaker, Spada reminded attendees that House Speaker William Batchelder and Senate President Keith Faber have offices in the Statehouse, and led chants of “Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, HEALTH CARE WORKS!”

“Health care” may work, but does government-subsidized care? Does Medicaid? Evidence is mixed, at best, but the People! Not Politics rally was about asserting the moral superiority of big government, not about sharing facts.

“Because some legislators are choosing politics over people, Ohio is about to lose a one-time opportunity to provide health care to over 275,000 low-wage Ohioans,” a UHCAN Ohio flyer for the event explained. “There is still time for the Ohio House to choose people over politics and extend healthcare coverage to low-wage Ohioans.”

“If Ohio accepts federal dollars and extends health coverage to hundreds of thousands of Ohioans, we can save lives, strengthen Ohio’s communities, and strengthen our economy,” the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association – an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) – announced in an alert notifying members of the rally.

AFSCME was a major national partner in the push for PPACA through 2009 and early 2010.

There was one key difference between rallies for the passage of President Obama’s 2010 health law and the Ohio rally to implement its Medicaid expansion: in 2013, Governor John Kasich has stood firmly on the side of bigger government.

“Thank you, Governor Kasich,” the crowd shouted across the street after Spada pointed out the governor’s office is in the Riffe Building and not the Statehouse itself.

As Media Trackers has explained in depth, the Republican governor’s arguments for the PPACA Medicaid expansion are a blend of flawed assumptions and false talking points, developed in partnership with socialized medicine lobbying group UHCAN Ohio.

Contrary to Kasich’s claims, the federal government cannot afford Medicaid expansion, more than a quarter of Ohio doctors already reject new Medicaid patients, hospitals do not need more Medicaid funding nearly so badly as they insist, the state cannot expand the program temporarily or with some private alternative, and “Ohio’s” Medicaid expansion funds will not go to other states if Ohio rejects the expansion.

That’s not one or two, but six separate issues with the case for expanding Medicaid – and each has been ridiculed or utterly ignored by Ohio’s legacy media. What happened to the concept of an independent press that investigates the claims of government officials bearing “free” handouts?

Although the details are complicated, the pivot point of the Ohio Medicaid expansion debate is incredibly simple. One side wants the Ohio General Assembly to expand the entitlement state by embracing a federal takeover of the health care industry. The other wants the Ohio General Assembly to reject the PPACA Medicaid expansion, preventing billions in new federal and state government spending.

It’s no secret Ohio’s newspapers believe bigger government is supported by “the good guys,” even after the past several years have shined a spotlight on the folly of central planning. Why is that?

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.

The governor, a Republican with a reputation for fiscal conservatism, insists Medicaid expansion would keep “Ohio’s tax dollars” in the state instead of letting them be spent elsewhere. It’s a simple argument – federal spending will be the same regardless, so only a fool would oppose keeping some of it in Ohio – that also happens to be completely false.

Seeking the source of this talking point, Media Trackers reached out to the governor’s office and to numerous pro-expansion groups. The governor’s office did not respond.

Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO) spokesman Nick Wiselogel confirmed, “That assertion is not something that has been included in any of HPIO’s publications or materials related to Medicaid expansion in Ohio.”

“Having talked with our attorney, you are correct that the states that deny the funding would not be shared with other states,” wrote Tom Smith of the Ohio Council of Churches, “but would be retained so that states who decided later that they wanted to be included could do so but would lose one year of 100% funding for each year that they delayed taking the money.”

“The Governor decided that it would be wrong to deny the low-income families in Ohio the opportunity to be insured while families in New York, California and many other states would qualify for coverage.”

Alanna Williamson of the Kaiser Family Foundation explained, ”The point being made is that taxes paid to the federal government by people in states that do not expand their Medicaid programs will be spent only in states that do choose to expand. So, citizens will be paying into a federal program without experiencing the benefits in their state.”

Media Trackers provided Williamson quotes of the more specific claims Governor Kasich has made, but received no further response in time for publication.

How important is this unfounded narrative in Kasich’s pitch for the PPACA Medicaid expansion? Governor’s Office of Health Transformation Director Greg Moody included it in February 14 testimony before the House Finance and Appropriations Committee, and the governor repeated it during his February 19 State of the State address.

“Would I rather we take the money, and not spend it, and draw down the federal debt? Absolutely. But that is not within my range of ability, and not within the range of a governor’s ability to do,” Moody told legislators.

“If we don’t spend it, it is not as if that money is going to be somehow saved,” Moody added. “We are still paying that in our federal taxes. The question is, is it coming back to Ohio, or is it going somewhere else.”

A presentation accompanying Moody’s testimony described all of the PPACA Medicaid expansion funds Ohio could receive as “Ohioans’ federal tax dollars.”

“We should not shoot ourselves in the foot and send our tax dollars to another state to be spent,” Governor Kasich told the General Assembly on February 19, warning, “if we don’t do what we should do on Medicaid, they’ll be spending it in California. You count on it.”

The governor also called the PPACA Medicaid expansion “an unprecedented opportunity to bring $13 billion of Ohio’s tax dollars back to Ohio to solve our problem.”

Ohio newspapers have frequently cited the Kasich administration’s claims, indicating they realize it matters whether Ohio can prevent new deficit spending. Skepticism of these claims has been absent from news and op-ed columns alike, although Kasich’s assertions about how PPACA Medicaid expansion funding works contradict everything else reporters have written about the expansion.

To coerce states into extending Medicaid to able-bodied adults below 138 percent of the federal poverty line, PPACA promises the federal government will pay 100 percent of states’ costs to cover newly eligible individuals from 2014-2016. Starting in 2017, federal funding for the PPACA Medicaid expansion will be gradually reduced to 90 percent.

Since the law does not create a defined pool of money to be divided among compliant states but rather an open-ended promise of new federal spending, how could rejecting the expansion send “Ohio’s” PPACA Medicaid expansion funds to other states?

Is Kasich suggesting the federal government would pay California to expand coverage to, for instance, 150 percent of the poverty line, instead of 138 percent? Or that the federal government would pay 100 percent of the cost for newly-eligible New Yorkers through 2018 instead of 2016?

The truth is, California will increase the $16.7 trillion national debt by expanding Medicaid, as will New York and every other state pursuing billions per year in new federal funding. Ohio can make this problem worse by adopting the PPACA Medicaid expansion, but nothing Ohio does will have any impact on how many federal dollars are distributed to other states.

For more than six weeks, Governor Kasich has tried to convince Ohioans that the losing hand of PPACA Medicaid expansion is a royal flush. Instead of asking the governor to show his cards, Ohio’s legacy media have broadcast this false narrative across the state.

This story originally appeared at Media Trackers Ohio.