The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) advocacy team monitors healthcare related legislation, rule changes, and legislative updates for Ohio’s family physicians.
To access the OAFP Bill Tracker, visit the OAFP Public Policy webpage and click on the Bill Tracker icon.
Read on for this week’s updates and contact Advocacy Coordinator Kaela Springhetti with questions or for ways to get involved.
Ohio Voted for Abortion Access. GOP Lawmakers Still Push for Limits
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
Ohioans voted to protect abortion access in 2023. Now, Republicans are pitching multiple ways to test the limits of that constitutional amendment.
More than two years after their victory, abortion rights advocates are fighting an onslaught of proposed legislation to restrict access to medication abortion, delay abortion procedures, and track pregnancies.
“It’s clear that they have not accepted the will of the voters,” said Kellie Copeland, executive director of Abortion Forward, which advocated for the amendment, which passed with 57% of the vote. “They are doing everything they can to engage in a multi-prong attack on the Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment.”
Opponents of abortion say the 2023 constitutional amendment didn’t give patients unfettered access to the abortion pill or procedure.
“There is a false assertion out there that the amendment is a blanket prohibition for any pro-life laws being introduced, passed and signed by the governor,” said Mike Gonidakis, chairman of the Ohio Right to Life PAC. “It’s just false to say that.”
Read the full article in The Columbus Dispatch.
Federal Changes to Add Strain to State Medicaid Workforce, Experts Say
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
Under federal reconciliation bill HR 1, which is expected to reduce Medicaid spending by almost $1 trillion over the next eight years, the state Medicaid workforce will face an expanded role of not only determining whether millions of enrollees meet the program’s new work requirements but also verify more frequently that they qualify for the program—every six months instead of yearly (Source: States Face Another Challenge with Medicaid Work Rules: Staffing Shortages, KFF Health News, April 9).
Many states do not have the staff to process Medicaid applications or renewals quickly and many enrollees could lose access to benefits they’re legally entitled to, said consumer advocates and health policy researchers, some of them with direct experience working at state agencies.
States are already “struggling significantly,” said Jennifer Wagner, the director of Medicaid eligibility and enrollment at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and a former associate director of the Illinois Department of Human Services. “There will be significant additional challenges caused by these changes.”
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio recently released a new policy explainer on changes to Medicaid financing in Ohio that will be enacted as a result of HR 1.