By: Team Sherrod

Reports out this week demonstrate the powerful impact Medicaid expansion has had for Ohio families: Millions have benefited from the expansion, while the adult uninsured rate has fallen by nearly half since 2012.

Sherrod knows we need to defend the undeniable progress we’ve made in helping the people who need coverage get the care they deserve, in communities around the state. It’s crucial that we keep him in the Senate, fighting for affordable healthcare for more people—not taking it away.

Get the details on the results of Medicaid expansion below, and then show your support for Sherrod:

The Columbus Dispatch: Report touts benefits of Medicaid expansion

Catherine Candisky – August 21, 2018

Key points:

• Reports show that Medicaid expansion has helped thousands of Ohioans get needed care at a reasonable cost.

• The 2018 Medicaid Assessment, commissioned by the state, gave largely glowing reviews to expanding eligibility to poor, working-aged adults without dependent children.

• About half of all enrollees—630,000 beneficiaries—have received treatment for mental illness or substance abuse.

• Ohio’s adult uninsured rate, although up slightly since 2015, has still dropped by nearly half since 2012, to 9.3%.

• The tax-funded Medicaid program provides health insurance to about 3 million poor and disabled Ohioans, including about 665,000 made eligible under the 2014 expansion under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Since 2014, more than 1.2 million Ohioans have gained coverage at one time or another through expansion.

• The expansion extended coverage to adults ages 18 to 64 with no dependent children and incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, or $16,750 a year. (Children, parents and the disabled were already covered.)

• In addition, 26,000 enrollees said they quit smoking through a cessation program provided by Medicaid.

• Most beneficiaries reported increased use of primary care, likely contributing to a decline in more expensive hospital emergency room visits. Emergency room use dropped 17% among those enrolled two years or more, a $52 million savings.

• The report does not address work requirements, but Medicaid expansion beneficiaries may soon need to find a job or face the loss of coverage. At the direction of Republican lawmakers, some of whom have tried for years to end or significantly curtail the expansion, state Medicaid officials recently asked federal regulators to impose work requirements on most non-disabled adults.
  
  

Read more here.