Columbus Dispatch Declares There’s No Case Against Medicaid Expansion

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  May 1st at 02:00 PM  | 

“Opposition to Medicaid expansion is purely ideological,” The Columbus Dispatch editors declared in an April 28 column taking the paper’s advocacy of its current pet cause to a new extreme. For three months the Dispatch has diligently overlooked arguments against Medicaid expansion in 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 | Read More »

Ohio House Passes Budget Without Medicaid Expansion

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  April 19th at 02:00 PM  | 

The Ohio House of Representatives passed biennial budget House Bill 59 (HB 59) on April 18 without Governor John Kasich’s proposed Medicaid expansion, calling instead for a separate debate on the issue. There is no deadline for states to expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), but promised federal funding tapers off beginning in 2017. “Many thanks to those of you | Read More »

Ohio Hospital Association Millionaires Want More of Your Money

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  April 17th at 04:00 PM  | 

Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) insistence that its members need more taxpayer funding has featured prominently in the debate over expanding Medicaid, but is OHA really in a position to demand more state and federal dollars? 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 | Read More »

Ohio Medicaid Expansion Myths vs. Math

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  April 15th at 12:00 PM  | 

Ohio’s debate over the Obamacare Medicaid expansion has been distorted by a media eager to carry water for bigger government, unquestioningly repeating talking points that collapse under any amount of scrutiny. 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, | Read More »

Ohio Socialized Medicine Lobby Rallies Like It’s 2009

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  April 11th at 04:00 PM  | 

Hundreds of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Medicaid expansion advocates rallied in front of the Ohio Statehouse on April 11, 2013, calling for the General Assembly to expand the entitlement program at an annual cost of billions in federal spending and hundreds of millions in state spending. After years of failed “stimulus” bills, broken health reform promises, and trillion-dollar deficits from President Obama, | Read More »

John Kasich’s Billion-Dollar Medicaid Expansion Bluff

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  April 3rd at 02:00 PM  | 

Governor John Kasich has wagered he can pressure the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly into expanding Medicaid by telling legislators they cannot stop billions in federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) spending. With the complicity of Ohio’s media, he may be right. The governor, a Republican with a reputation for fiscal conservatism, insists Medicaid expansion would keep “Ohio’s tax dollars” in the state instead | Read More »

Medicaid Expansion Would “Save” Ohio Money by Increasing State, Federal Spending

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  April 2nd at 12:00 PM  | 

Governor John Kasich and other supporters of expanding Medicaid in Ohio make a strange economic case for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Medicaid expansion, portraying millions in new state spending as responsible because it would be offset by billions in new federal spending. The left-leaning Urban Institute, in estimates the Kaiser Family Foundation released last November, projected that Ohio’s adoption of the PPACA | Read More »

Universal Health Care Action Network Helps Gov. Kasich Pressure Ohio House

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  March 25th at 02:30 PM  | 

The contents of a March 15 Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio (UHCAN Ohio) web training for progressive activists interested in lobbying for Medicaid expansion bore a striking resemblance to talking points from Governor John Kasich and his administration. Kasich, a Republican, has decided to pursue billions in new federal funding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) promises to states that expand | Read More »

Can States Expand Medicaid Temporarily?

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  March 20th at 12:00 PM  | 

Governor John Kasich has insisted Ohio can adopt the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Medicaid expansion temporarily and back out in the future by including a “circuit breaker” provision that would revoke new Medicaid eligibility if Washington changes the rules. Ohio’s newspapers, which enthusiastically support Medicaid expansion, have reported Kasich’s claims without skepticism. With the federal government more than $16.7 trillion in debt but promising | Read More »

Medicaid Expansion Poll Confirms Primary Risk for Ohio Republicans

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  March 18th at 01:00 PM  | 

A Hill Research Consultants poll conducted March 3-4 found that 65 percent of Republican primary voters oppose Governor John Kasich’s decision to expand Medicaid as called for in President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Commissioned by Opportunity Ohio and The Liberty Foundation, the poll surveyed 803 active Ohio voters by telephone, with a 4 percent margin of error. Overall, respondents were evenly | Read More »