Kasich to unveil 2016-17 state budget plan Monday

By MARC KOVAC | news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

A severe bout of depression left Cincinnati resident Ben Ertel out of a job and without too many options.

Over in Greene County, Pam Harris was making too much money — $14 an hour in a 30-hour a week job — to qualify for assistance with the medication and services she needed to deal with arthritis, a stroke and some mental health issues.

North Canton mom Cindy Koumoutzis watched her daughter struggle with the aftermath of a rape and an addiction to heroin without insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

That was before Gov. John Kasich moved for an expansion of Medicaid eligibility two years ago, providing health care coverage and related services to hundreds of thousands of additional needy Ohioans.

Today, Ertel has a full-time job as a nurses aide with insurance coverage through his employer, Harris is getting the medication and physical therapy she needs and Koumoutzis’ daughter is getting treatment and counseling for her addiction and health issues — all, they said, thanks to Ohio’s expanded Medicaid coverage.

Last week at the Statehouse, the trio joined mental health and addiction services advocates in urging Republican lawmakers to continue the Medicaid expansion.

“I cannot say it strongly enough — the expansion of Medicaid eligibility limits has improved lives of many Ohioans and ultimately helps us to become a stronger and more robust state,” said Bobbi Douglas, executive director of Liberty Center Connections in Wooster.

Kasich unveils his biennial budget proposal Monday, and the continuation of Medicaid expansion likely will be a part of it.

Though the expansion was finalized in 2013, he’ll need lawmakers’ approval of spending authority to continue paying the costs of the program over the next two fiscal years.

Backers of the move aren’t the only ones pushing for inclusion in the budget. In the days before the governor’s spending plan unveiling, groups have had press conferences and conference calls and online presentations to advocate for a variety of issues.

In other words, everybody wants something.

Anti-smoking groups want an increase in taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products, saying the change would bring a steady revenue stream into the state’s coffers while decreasing the number of smokers.

Education groups want more regulation of charter schools to make sure the public funds they receive are being used to effectively teach kids and not lining the pockets of big-money management groups.

Local governments want a restoration of the state funding that was cut a few years back, saying Ohio’s present economic climate and solid budget conditions merit a return of money needed for police, firefighters and other necessary services.

Democrats in the Ohio House and Senate have drawn their own lines in the sand, saying they won’t support policies that shift taxes from wealthy Ohioans to low- and middle-income residents. They also have wish lists of law changes they’d like to see included in the budget bill — a refundable earned income tax credit, for example.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.