Health

Ohio has picked managed care organizations for new state Medicaid contracts that will provide health care services for more than 1.5 million poor and disabled people.

State officials say they selected Aetna Better Health of Ohio, CareSource, Meridian Health Plan, Paramount Advantage and United Healthcare Community Plan of Ohio.

Medicaid beneficiaries will be offered five managed care plan choices, up from the current two or three.

Ohio is also upping performance expectations in the contracts by linking a portion of each Medicaid managed care plan's payment to standards aimed at making people healthier.

XavierUniversity in Cincinnati has announced that it will no longer provide birth control insurance coverage for employees.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that President of the Catholic university, Michael J. Graham,says the decision as prompted by national debate over a provision in President Barack Obama's health care law that requires insurers to provide such coverage.

Xavier says the change, announced Monday, goes into effect July 1. The university has about 950 faculty and staff and did not know how many would be affected.

Last month The President announced what he called a compromise putting the burden on insurers, not institutions, to provide coverage.

Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment to allow medical marijuana in Ohio say they are hoping to get the issue on the statewide ballot this fall.

Heroin abuse in Ohio is on the rise, according to a new report by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.