Federal Medicaid cuts will hit home

District-specific data makes the case for Ohio’s delegation to reject federal cuts

Federal proposals to cut Medicaid funding will harm many thousands of Ohioans, regardless of the specific policy details, according to a new brief from Policy Matters Ohio. The brief describes a variety of mechanisms federal legislators might use to push Ohioans out of the program, including:

• Three types of spending caps.
• A national work requirement.
• Restrictions on states’ ability to tax healthcare providers.
• Rate cuts for Medicaid Expansion — which in Ohio would trigger language in the Governor’s Budget to eliminate the program completely.

“Congress is preparing a bill that will require the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion dollars from its budget,” said Policy Matters researcher Kathryn Poe, author of the brief. “That virtually guarantees large cuts to Medicaid funding, which will strip coverage from Ohioans who need it and weaken our economy, over 4% of which is supported by Medicaid.”

The brief includes Medicaid enrollment data for each of the state’s 15 congressional districts, showing where cuts will hit hardest. In Northeast Ohio’s District 11, 38% of the population use Medicaid to get the care they need; in Central Ohio’s District 15, almost half of all children (47% of the population under 19) do so.

“People from all over the state will be harmed by federal cuts,” Poe said. “These district-specific numbers should make clear to every member of Ohio’s congressional delegation that the folks back home need them to resist and reject Medicaid cuts in any form.”