Ohio State Building. (Photo: Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal).
Ohio Republicans have reversed course after their proposal to limit home health care coverage under the state’s Medicaid program drew massive backlash.
On Monday, lawmakers removed the most controversial part of Ohio House Bill 795, which would have barred family members of Medicaid beneficiaries from being certified caregivers.
Family members living with eligible Medicaid beneficiaries may become caregivers. They will need to pass a background check, complete several hours of training, and work with an already accredited Medicaid provider.
Payment ranges vary, but some programs pay family caregivers $1,800 per month.
It’s a program that Gov. Mike DeWine has been championing for weeks. At an unrelated event, we asked him what he thought about getting rid of home health care.
“No one wants to go to an institution; no one wants to go to a nursing home,” DeWine said. “They want to stay in their own home.”
Republicans at the national and state levels are becoming increasingly skeptical of this.
“We don’t want everyone hiring their kids to carry groceries up the stairs or driving everyone to the doctor’s office for their appointments,” Federal Medicaid chief Dr. Mehmet Oz said during a visit to Ohio in May.
Legislative leaders say some providers paid by Medicaid aren’t doing their jobs. And now some Republican lawmakers are claiming, without evidence, that there is widespread fraud in the home health care system.
State Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania County, said he decided to withdraw the provision from the legislation after massive response from residents.
“This was a direct result of listening to stakeholders and voters,” Williams said.
It was originally intended not to affect people with developmental disabilities, he said, but was aimed at “comfort care,” a type of home health care that focuses on the mental health of vulnerable people.
Democrats and some Republicans like former Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, are pleased with the outcome.
“We seem to be heading in the right direction so far,” Stephens said in an interview. “We hope that we can come up with a product that actually stops fraud, waste and abuse. But even so, we’re not harming the things that work in Medicaid.”
Stephens expressed his anger at the party last week when this version of the bill was released, saying on social media that it would “completely blow up Medicaid in Ohio.”
These were “devastating” provisions, Stephens said, a statement confirmed by more than 200 people who testified against the bill.
Currently, the bill mainly focuses on relatively uncontroversial policies, such as giving the attorney general greater powers to investigate allegations of fraud.
Still, Stephens wonders whether other lawmakers will try to reinstate the policy. DeWine explained that this would be harmful and pricey.
Even in the face of allegations of home health care fraud, the alternative is much more pricey.
We obtained state data showing that home health care services cost at least four times less than in nursing facilities or long-term care facilities.
“If we say we’re going to throw out home care altogether, we’re going to send a lot more people to our nursing homes. It’s going to cost a lot more money and the quality of life is just not going to be as good,” DeWine said.
“It could be your mom, your dad, your siblings and you who now have to go to a nursing home.”
Republicans want to pass some kind of Medicaid reform by the end of the week.
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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