The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) advocacy team monitors healthcare related legislation, rule changes, and legislative updates for Ohio’s family physicians.
Read on for this week’s updates and contact Workforce and Advocacy Manager Caitlin Laudeman with questions or for ways to get involved.
Raise Your Voice with OAFP – Speak Out on Vaccine Exemption
The biennial budget bill currently includes overly broad language allowing blanket exemption to vaccine requirements at higher education institutions. This provision would provide a blanket exemption to any vaccine requirement at a private college or institution of higher education based merely upon a student’s written statement. Many of these institutions already grant exemptions on medical or religious grounds. There is a real risk this overly broad exemption will lead to outbreaks of potentially deadly diseases like meningitis, mumps, and measles on Ohio’s college campuses. We can learn from our previous experiences and support the health of these rising scholars living in communal spaces.
Send a message to your state legislators urging them to remove overly broad vaccine exemption language in the biennial budget bill by Wednesday, June 28.
June Issue of AAFP’s Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds Available
- Policymakers Heed AAFP’s Call to Bolster Primary Care Practices and Improve Competition
- AAFP Applauds HHS for Protecting Sensitive Health Information
- AAFP Asks ONC to Advance EHR Transparency.
OAFP Signs on to Letter Opposing HB 68
On the morning of June 21, the OAFP joined with eight other medical and healthcare organizations in submitting a letter to legislators in opposition to House Bill (HB) 68 which would prohibit gender transition services for children and ban transgender women and girls from playing women’s and girls’ school sports. The letter was a final effort to send opposition messaging to the legislature but was unsuccessful as the House passed the bill the same afternoon.
OAFP member Mark McLoney, MD, provided testimony on behalf of the Academy opposing HB 68 regarding gender affirming care on May 24. The house committee later adopted and voted out a substitute bill for HB 68 that changed some of the provisions of HB 68 as introduced and also added language from HB 6, the save women’s sports act. The sub bill also removed most of the language that was flagged in HB 68 as introduced that limited mental health services and created a private right of action. The bill still prohibits the use of hormone therapy and puberty blockers.
Office of Budget and Management and Legislative Service Commission Project More Revenue But Dip in FY25; Medicaid Caseload Forecasts Drop
Source: NEA Consulting Weekly Ohio Update
Budget negotiators will have more money to work with as they try to reconcile versions of the fiscal year (FY) 2024-25 budget bill, although the latest forecasts do show a slight reduction in projected revenue for the second year of the biennium. Office of Budget and Management (OBM) Director Kim Murnieks and Legislative Service Commission (LSC) Director Wendy Zhan presented updated forecasts for tax revenues and the Medicaid caseload at recent initial meeting of the conference committee on HB 33. While the OBM still predicts slowing economic growth in the coming biennium, its outlook is rosier than that introduced in February.
The OBM predicts an even larger FY23 surplus to end this biennium, with $387 million more expected compared to the February forecast. For FY24, the OBM projects $513 million more in revenue, while projections for FY25 are slightly lower, down $84 million. Director Zhan said the LSC projects $294.3 million more in surplus revenue to end FY23, $334 million more in revenue for FY24 compared to February forecasts, and $42.6 million less than forecast for FY25. After seeing the initial data from the unwinding of pandemic-era coverage policies, both the OBM and the LSC now project a lower Medicaid caseload and thus lower Medicaid spending for the coming biennium. The OBM projects $1.2 billion less in All Funds spending, with about $252 million of that being state-share General Revenue Fund (GRF) money. The LSC’s projections show a lesser reduction of about $745 million overall and $208 million in state-share GRF.
House and Senate Pass Several Healthcare Related Bills
Source: NEA Consulting Weekly Ohio Update
- HB 152 requires health plans to cover hearing aids and related services to individuals 21 and younger. The vote was 85-8.
- HB 73 authorizes the prescribing of off-label drugs and requires their dispensing if prescribed. The bill passed 73-17.
- HB 68 prohibits gender-affirming care and transgender women and girls from playing women’s and girls’ school sports. The bill passed 64-28.
- Senate Bill 28 allows Ohio to enter into the Physician Assistant Licensure Compact. The bill passed unanimously.