Tagged: Medicaid

An Ohio legislative committee is scheduled to hear two Medicaid proposals today as lawmakers try to find common ground on changes to the health program.

One bill is aimed at curbing Medicaid costs and making the program more efficient while neither expanding it or cutting beneficiaries. The bipartisan bill's sponsors have described the legislation as a starting point for discussions.

Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan proposal aimed at curbing Medicaid costs as they try to find common ground on the issue.

The measure introduced Thursday in the House and Senate offers broad ideas with few details, while neither expanding the health program nor cutting beneficiaries.

Sponsors say it's a starting point for discussions in both chambers.

The proposal instructs the state's Medicaid director to limit the growth of the program's costs in way that would improve the physical and mental health of recipients.

Supporters of expanding the Medicaid program to include more low-income people are urging Ohio lawmakers to restore the proposal to the state budget.

The group Advocates for Ohio's Future said Tuesday that it's open to separate legislation that achieves the same goal, as long as it's passed by June 30, the same deadline the budget faces.

The governor's budget proposal called for an expansion of Medicaid under the federal health care law. But the Legislature has largely kept the idea separate from the budget bill.