Ohio is prepared to move ahead with expansions of Medicaid eligibility that Gov. Ted Strickland outlined in his budget proposal earlier this year.
By the end of January, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services intends to raise the income limit for pregnant women from 150% to 200% of the federal poverty level and cover foster children for an additional three years, until their 21st birthdays, spokesman Dennis Evans said.
The department also expects to roll out two buy-in programs by April 1, Evans said. One would allow people with disabilities to keep their Medicaid benefits if they get jobs, and another would allow parents making more than three times the poverty level to purchase health coverage for their children through the state.
Meanwhile, the state has submitted an amended state plan to the CMS that would expand eligibility for children and families to those with incomes up to three times the poverty level—about $62,000 for a family of four—and hopes to have an answer by year-end. The Ohio General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review is scheduled to consider rules paving the way for all of the changes next week. -- by Gregg Blesch
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