Medicare Trustee Cautions States on Obamacare Medicaid Expansion

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  March 5th at 02:00 PM  | 

Medicare Board of Trustees member Charles Blahous released a Mercatus Center report on March 5 recommending states take advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2012 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) ruling by mostly rejecting the law’s Medicaid expansion. Blahous concluded that states “all appear to face one common, powerful incentive arising from the court’s ruling: to decline to cover childless adults at | Read More »

John Kasich, Compassionate Conservative?

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  March 4th at 06:00 PM  | 

Ohio Governor John Kasich has conflated government spending with personal charity in his arguments for Medicaid expansion, adopting one of the central pillars of progressive philosophy. Kasich’s portrayal of deeper debt and bigger government as the Christian path strongly resembles President George W. Bush’s talk of “compassionate conservatism,” which assented to progressive arguments that conservatism by itself is heartless. “Well, I think it makes sense | Read More »

Kasich Appointee Scolds Opponents of Ohio Medicaid Expansion

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  March 1st at 01:30 PM  | 

Ohio Right to Life president Michael Gonidakis belittled the Ohio Liberty Coalition (OLC) and every other conservative group in the state in a February 27 Columbus Dispatch editorial promoting Governor John Kasich’s decision to expand Medicaid. Gonidakis, who Kasich appointed to the State Medical Board of Ohio just four months ago, parroted the Republican governor’s progressive talking points for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Medicaid expansion. “Memo | Read More »

Kasich Repeats Medicaid Expansion Lies in Ohio State of the State Address

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  February 21st at 02:00 PM  | 

Governor John Kasich forcefully repeated multiple falsehoods about expanding Medicaid eligibility in Ohio during his 2013 State of the State address on February 19. As he and his administration have done for weeks, Kasich falsely insisted that Ohio’s promised federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) funding for expanding Medicaid will be sent to other states if Ohio rejects the expansion. The Ohio Channel | Read More »

Kasich Administration Presents a False Choice on Medicaid Expansion

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  February 18th at 03:00 PM  | 

Governor John Kasich has falsely insisted that if Ohio does not expand Medicaid eligibility, federal Medicaid expansion funds for Ohio will be sent to other states. With some Ohio legislators hesitant to worsen America’s $16.5 trillion national debt, the Kasich administration has inaccurately claimed that rejecting Medicaid expansion would not prevent federal spending. Contrary to February 14 Ohio House of Representatives testimony from the Republican | Read More »

Gov. Kasich Enlists Socialized Medicine Lobbyists to Help Implement Obamacare

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  February 11th at 02:58 PM  | 

Governor John Kasich worked with the far-left Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio (UHCAN Ohio) to build his case for Medicaid expansion, a central piece of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Washington Post blogger Sarah Kliff detailed Kasich’s strategy in a February 6 Wonkblog entry. “Rather than having to convince the governor, Obamacare supporters were asked to focus their efforts on convincing | Read More »

Gov. Kasich’s Medicaid Arguments Mirror Strickland’s Pleas for Passenger Rail Spending

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  February 7th at 02:00 PM  | 

Ohio Governor John Kasich Governor John Kasich has defended his decision to expand Medicaid eligibility in Ohio with logic he rejected when killing a “high-speed rail” project barely two years ago. Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat, emphasized the need to goose Ohio’s economy using our “fair share” of federal funds – an argument Kasich, a Republican, is now employing to justify Medicaid expansion. The 2010 | Read More »

With Medicaid Expansion, Gov. Kasich’s Credibility Collapses

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  February 5th at 01:00 PM  | 

Governor John Kasich’s proposal to expand Medicaid eligibility in Ohio after years of criticizing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly known as Obamacare, means a total collapse in Kasich’s credibility on Washington spending. Kasich, a Republican, was elected in 2010 due in part to his record as a fiscal hawk in the U.S. House of Representatives. This Heritage Foundation chart depicts entitlement | Read More »

Kasich Refuses to Implement Obamacare Exchange in Ohio

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  November 16th at 03:00 PM  | 

Ohio Governor John Kasich made official his administration’s refusal to create a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) exchange in Ohio, deferring to the federal government. With a November 16 letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Kasich limited the burdens the law commonly referred to as Obamacare will impose on Ohioans.

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Ohio Still Awaits Gov. Kasich’s Obamacare Decisions

By: Jason Hart (Diary)  |  November 12th at 04:00 PM  | 

Ohio Governor John Kasich still has not announced official decisions on Obamacare exchange implementation or Medicaid expansion, major factors in the federal Goliath’s reach into the Buckeye State. With President Obama reelected and no chance of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) repeal, choices left to the Republican administration by the 2010 law are more important than ever. In a November 9 column at | Read More »