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.
March Issue of AAFP’s Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has released its March issue of Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds, a monthly tip sheet to educate, engage, and update you on the latest policy issues affecting family physicians and their patients.
- Family Physicians Visit Capitol Hill to Improve Investment in Primary Care
- Match Day 2025: The AAFP Welcomes A New Family Medicine Class, Advocates for Policies That Strengthen Workforce
- The AAFP Disappointed in CMMI Termination of Payment Models
- The AAFP Joins Other Health Organizations to Support AHRQ
- Family Physicians Ask HHS to Strengthen Cybersecurity Protections
- The AAFP Comments on Two Telehealth Prescribing Rules
- The AAFP Continues Work on Supporting Electronic Prior Authorization Efforts.
Governor Mike DeWine on Potential Medicaid Cuts: ‘We Don’t Know What the Federal Government is Going to Do’
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio would have to make “very difficult” choices if federal lawmakers enact cuts to Medicaid’s expanded eligibility, Governor Mike DeWine said recently at a Columbus Metropolitan Club event.
The state expanded Medicaid eligibility in 2014, enrolling an additional 770,000 Ohioans. Nationally, 72 million Americans are insured by the program.
Now, federal lawmakers continue to consider changes and cuts to Medicaid as a possible way to fund President Donald Trump’s agenda. Ohio representatives, for their part, are considering a measure in their version of the state budget bill that would repeal Ohio’s Medicaid expansion if federal assistance for the program drops below 90%.
When asked if he supported the bill’s “trigger language” that would take effect if the federal assistance drops, he said it was a question of what happens at the federal level.
“What we don’t know is what the federal government is going to do, and the federal government is paying virtually all of this expansion,” Gov. DeWine said. “Now if they change the numbers or they stop paying, then obviously we will have to make some very, very difficult choices that, frankly, we do not want to have to make.
“So, I’m not going to make any commitment of what we’re going to do until I see what the numbers are coming out of the federal government.”
Read the full article in The Columbus Dispatch.
Many Ohioans Work Jobs that Pay Below the Limit for Medicaid Expansion Coverage
Source: The Health Policy Institute of Ohio
As Ohio and federal policymakers consider the future of expanded eligibility for Medicaid, the illustration below, from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO), shows examples of the types of jobs with an average pay that would currently make Ohioans eligible for Medicaid under expansion.
As the U.S. Congress deliberates plans to reduce federal spending, including proposals to drastically cut funding for Medicaid, Governor Mike DeWine included in his state budget proposal a provision that if the federal share of Medicaid funding is reduced, the Ohio Department of Medicaid “shall immediately discontinue all medical assistance for members of the [Medicaid expansion] group.”
This would drastically reduce access to healthcare for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans, most of whom are employed. In 2018, Medicaid reported that 94% of Group VIII enrollees were either employed, in school, taking care of family members (such as children or grandchildren), participating in an alcohol and drug treatment program, or dealing with intensive physical health and/or a mental health illness.
The income eligibility limit for Medicaid enrollees is set as a percentage of the federal poverty level (FPL).
Learn more in HPIO’s recently released brief Policy Considerations: The Future of Group VIII (expansion) Medicaid Coverage in Ohio.