Northeast Ohioans are being urged to voice their opinions on the proposal to make many residents pay premiums for some state Medicaid services that are now free. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown says residents of this region have not had the same chance to make public comments as people in other parts of the state.
Brown says it’s curious that state government officials held public meetings in Cincinnati and Columbus, but not Cleveland. He believes they knew opposition would be strong here. So, without a public hearing, the senator is asking residents to voice their concerns in other ways.
“They can call the Ohio Medicaid Bureau or Healthy Ohio ,which is the sort of phony name for this. They can go on brown.senate.gov. We will collect the stories and data and anecdotes and people’s kind of personal stories and kind of package it and send it on to Medicaid Services in Washington, or people can directly write to the Centers for Medicare and Medical Services in Washington and speak their piece.”
All comments on the proposal must be made by May 16th.
The proposal also includes additional co-payments and cost-sharing requirements. Backers say the changes would reduce costly and unnecessary hospital visits.
