Lawmakers and the Kasich administration have gone back and forth on a budget issue that would change the way people with long term health problems would receive medical care. That provision is still on the table as the Senate works to craft their final draft of the budget bill.
Gov. John Kasich wants Medicaid recipients with long-term health needs to receive managed care through health insurance plans.
Supporters say that would save money in the long run and provide more efficient care for patients. But the House took that provision out in place of more study.
Peter Van Runkle, with the Ohio Health Care Association, the state's nursing home lobby, says managed care hasn’t proven to work for long-term health needs, yet.
“It really does boil down to sort of this extra layer of red tape and approvals and requirements and things when you’re putting a middle man in between Medicaid and your provider,” Van Runkle says.
About 90 percent of Medicaid enrollees are already under managed care plans.
