State expands Medicaid coverage

COLUMBUS (AP) — The state has expanded Medicaid coverage for pregnant women and foster children about two weeks sooner than expected, a spokesman for the agency that runs the health care program said Monday.

The expansion, authorized in the state budget that was approved in June, was to begin no later than Jan. 31, but the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services decided it could afford to do so now, spokesman Dennis Evans said.

Medicaid is a federal-state program that helps pay for health care for the needy, aged, disabled and low-income families with children.

For pregnant women, the expansion will increase income eligibility from 150 percent to 200 percent of the poverty limit, or from about $20,000 to about $26,000 in the case of a two-person household.

For foster children, the expansion extends their coverage from age 18 to age 21.

The Public Children Services Association of Ohio was evaluating to program to determine how many foster children could take advantage of the expansion, said Gayle Channing Tenenbaum, the association’s legislative director.

“It’s really come together beautifully. The folks over at Medicaid really worked hard to make this happen. There was a lot of work that was done with independent living workers, and then our group,” Tenenbaum said.

A youth board made up of current and former foster children also played a role in helping out, she said.

State officials said it will take until April 1 to finish developing a new Medicaid Buy-In program for working people who are disabled that will help them keep their benefits. A program to expand Medicaid to families earning 300 percent of the poverty limit — about $61,000 for a family of four — was rejected by President Bush.