CMS Denies Healthy Ohio Program Waiver

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has denied the Healthy Ohio Program 1115 Demonstration Waiver, a waiver that was opposed by OPHA. The waiver request was submitted to CMS in late June by the Ohio Department of Medicaid, as required in law by the Fiscal Year 2016/2017 Operating Budget.

As explained by the Center for Community Services and the Office of Health Transformation: In 2015, Governor John Kasich proposed Medicaid enrollees who are not disabled and have income above 100 percent of poverty pay a portion of their insurance premiums, as is the norm for private health insurance; however, the final version of the budget replaced the Administration’s premium program with a legislative requirement to enroll most Medicaid recipients into health savings accounts regardless of income. The Administration will now restart talks with the General Assembly about other options for ensuring greater personal responsibility, including the premium program as originally proposed. Read the letter of explanation from CMS here