“Nearly 1 Million of Ohio’s Medicaid Patients are Children“

Michaela Madison Reporting:

(Ohio) On Friday, July 7^th, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown will join other Ohio legislative leaders, pediatricians, nd families in a discussion surrounding the proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

In a press release, Senator Brown’s office notes that more than half of Ohio’s Medicaid patients are children.

At this time, both the Senate and House bills to repeal the Affordable Car Act would “gut” the Medicaid program, according to the release.

The bills would phase out the Medicaid expansion supported by Governor John Kasich.

Officials argue this would hurt children who use Medicaid as their primary source of health insurance and families with special needs children who supplement private insurance with Medicaid.

Currently, in Ohio, 973,000 children rely on Medicaid for their health insurance.

Brown will be joined by Elizabeth Newman, CEO of the Centers for Families and Children; Dr. Arthur Lavin, a pediatrician from Beachwood; and an Ohio family whose children get care through Medicaid.

In the press release, officials include the following bulleted information related to their stance against the repeal:

• Nationwide, more than two-fifths of the Medicaid population are children, covering more than 30 million children.
• Nearly one million Ohio children are covered by the state’s Medicaid program, accounting for more than half of Ohio’s entire Medicaid population.
• Approximately 483,000 children in Ohio – or seventeen percent of all children in the state – have severe disabilities or special health care needs, such as autism, Down syndrome, or cerebral palsy.
• Nearly half of all children with special health care needs in Ohio rely entirely or in part on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would leave these children without other options for health insurance.
• The insured rate for children in Ohio is at an all-time high since passage of the Affordable Care Act, with 96 percent of children insured.

The meeting will take place Friday, July 7^th at 10:45 a.m. at the Centers for Families and Children on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.

Updates from the discussion are expected following the event.