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UHCAN Delivers Hundreds Of Letters Opposed To Work Requirement

Photo of the Ohio Department of Medicaid sign
DAN KONIK
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU

A healthcare advocacy group delivered hundreds of letters to the state Medicaid office to express their opposition to work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients. 

Steve Wagner with the Universal Health Care Action Network says public input his group gathered shows that work requirements mean more paperwork and hurdles for people seeking coverage under Medicaid.

He compares is to the burden of making an insurance claim.

“Consider how difficult it is how much time you have to spend on hold the documentation that you have to create for that," Wagner says. 

Republican lawmakers had put into the current budget a provision ordering the Kasich administration ask the federal government for permission to impose work and job training requirements on many Medicaid recipients. The think tank the Center for Community Solutions, which opposes the idea, estimates it would cost counties more than $378 million over five years.

Andy Chow is a general assignment state government reporter who focuses on environmental, energy, agriculture, and education-related issues. He started his journalism career as an associate producer with ABC 6/FOX 28 in Columbus before becoming a producer with WBNS 10TV.