I have just come from a Board meeting where services for adults, children, and families with mental illness and substance abuse will be reduced by almost $400,000 beginning in July. This is a tragedy for our families and a tragedy for our community. Yet there are three things our legislators and Governor could do that would not cost the state anything and yet have a huge impact locally. Here they are:
- Medicaid Administrative Claiming - Local Boards could receive federal funding for the work they do in overseeing the Medicaid Program. Locally, that could mean up to $50,000 a year. I ask, "Why aren't our legislators and Governor advocating for us?"
- Medicaid Program Oversight - Currently the Medicaid program is completely unregulated and the costs of services are so out of control that they threaten to wipe out prevention programming, programming for school children, crisis services, and supportive services for adults. By simply passing legislation that gives local Boards the authority to oversee amount, scope and duration, hundreds of thousands of dollars could be saved just in Allen, Auglaize and Hardin Counties alone. I ask, "Why aren't our legislators and Governor working to help us reign in a runaway program?"
- Medicaid Benefit Package - Currently recipients of Medicaid Healthcare programs have better coverage than every working family in the state. Shouldn't our state government be seeking an equal coverage for our citizens regardless of socioeconomic status. A clear benefit package with reasonable limits on coverage based on diagnosis needs to be implemented immediately saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. I ask, "Why aren't our legislators and Governor paying attention?"
Many of our local citizens are being denied access to lifegiving services because our state legislature has not taken responsible action.
Please email your legislator today.
Senator Faber: SD12@senate.state.oh.us
Representative Hite (Hardin): district78@ohr.state.oh.us
Representative Adams (Auglaize): district78@ohr.state.oh.us
Representative Huffman (Allen): district04@ohr.state.oh.us
