Thwarting resistance from state lawmakers in his own party, Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich persuaded a legislative panel to accept $2.5 billion in federal funding to enlarge Ohio's Medicaid program under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, extending coverage to more than 275,000 low-income state residents as soon as Jan. 1.
Six Republican state representatives filed a lawsuit challenging the panel's authority to make the move.
The state's Controlling Board, composed of two Democrats, four Republicans and one member that was appointed by Kasich, voted 5-2 in favor of the state Medicaid expansion.
Ohio will be the sixth and one of the largest Republican-led states to expand Medicaid under the healthcare reform law. It is the 25th state, along with the District of Columbia, to do so.
