Ohio Job and Family Services Director Testifies asking Senate to eliminate healthcare cuts in budget

This week at the Statehouse, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley told members of the Senate Finance & Financial Institutions Committee that expanding access to healthcare is “one of the most imperative goals of this budget.” She called on committee members to restore Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposals to allow families with incomes higher than 300% of the federal poverty level to purchase Medicaid coverage for their children and to extend the benefit to parents earning between 90% and 100% FPL ODJFS projects the measures would cover about 4,000 children and 25,000 adults, respectively. The governor’s executive budget called for a 1.8% increase in healthcare spending during fiscal year 2008 and a 5.4% hike the following year to bring the agency’s total general revenue fund expenditures to $10.1 billion in FY 2009. While the House agreed to expand eligibility for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to 300% FPL, members denied the buy-in proposal, citing concerns about creating a new entitlement for relatively affluent families. In addition, the chamber returned to the 90% FPL Medicaid eligibility limit for working parents that the General Assembly passed last session. Senate Republicans have discussed applying a buy-in provision for upper income levels of the proposed SCHIP expansion.