Parents of children with serious medical conditions are pleading with state leaders to keep funding intact for a program that helps pay for treatment.
Gov. John Kasich’s proposed budget calls for changes to the Children with Medical Handicaps, the agency that provides funding for children with serious illnesses. Randi Clites of Ravenna has a son who suffers from hemophilia, cancer and bleeding of the brain. She worries about the proposal to move the program from the Health to the Medicaid department.
“We are extremely worried. We belong in Health. Our kids are chronically ill. And that they want to move us to a payer system and that’s all they see our families as – in the Medicaid program – it’s so disheartening.”
The funds in the program help parents, even those who are middle class with private insurance, pay for out-of-pocket costs associated with their children’s long-term care. Some Ohio lawmakers are signaling they are not in favor of the change.
