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Medicaid director backpedals on possibility of cutting drug coverage, expansion population
The director of the Ohio Department of Medicaid, it appears, is at least partially backtracking after telling a state panel that ending Ohio’s expanded eligibility for the program and eliminating prescription drug coverage are possible options to fill a looming state budget gap. On Monday, Director Maureen Corcoran made a presentation to the Ohio Prescription […]
Amid furor over senator’s comments, colleagues try to get hearings on racism back on track
Comments last week by Ohio Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, are probably the one thing Americans are most likely to know about the Ohio Senate right now. But while Huffman’s comments were, to put it charitably, racially insensitive, other members of the Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee worry that the national media response to […]
After months of questions, Ohio Medicaid to start paying pharmacists for coronavirus testing
After months of questions and promises of transparency, officials with the Ohio Department of Medicaid on Monday told an obscure state committee when they’ll start reimbursing community pharmacies to test one of the state’s most vulnerable populations for coronavirus. To contend with shrinking state budgets, the department also floated the possibility of draconian cuts, including […]
Huge majorities of Ohioans support broad, convenient voting options
As the Ohio General Assembly considers how the November General Election will be conducted, Ohio voters are clear: They want many options to cast their votes and they want them made easy as possible. As primaries in Ohio, Georgia and elsewhere have demonstrated, conducting elections amid the coronavirus pandemic can be problematic. And even though […]
Ohio faces second year with no executions
When Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine last week delayed three more executions into 2022 and 2023, it meant that 2020 would be the second consecutive year in which the Buckeye State had engaged in no judicial killings. The delays raise the question: Will the death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility ever be used again […]
Amid other challenges, Medicaid department conducting massive overhaul
The Ohio Department of Medicaid is working on a complete revamp of the lion’s share of the $27 billion program amid complaints that it hasn’t made much progress on much smaller tasks. The department is working to “reprocure” the services of the managed-care companies that represent more than 90% of Ohioans receiving benefits from Medicaid […]
Police organization slams Ohio AG over training cuts
Protests have consumed U.S. cities since a black man died May 25 after Minneapolis police knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. And brutal police conduct in the ensuing protests have raised further questions about the training American officers receive before they’re given a gun, a badge and sweeping power over people. Gov. Mike […]
DeWine won’t ‘critique’ handling of D.C. protests, but has sent Ohio National Guardsmen there
Ohio earlier this week sent 100 members of the National Guard to serve under President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., where they’re likely to play a role in policing protests. But Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday said he “didn’t know all the facts” about a federal law-enforcement action there on Monday that has drawn international […]
DeWine wants to help minorities and the poor, but he hasn’t always acted
As he deals with the twin challenges of civil unrest and a global pandemic, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine spoke passionately Tuesday about the need to address racial, economic and health disparities in Ohio. But while he listed a number of initiatives aimed at alleviating endemic problems in the black neighborhoods of Ohio cities and along […]
Yearning to breathe free, or just to breathe
Millions of Americans, it seems, feel as if they can no longer breathe. Through the first months of 2020, the novel coronavirus has choked the life from more than 100,000 of our countrymen and women. Disease-related shutdowns have choked 40 million more out of the workforce, changing the economic outlook for many — especially minorities […]
Governor says pharmacists should test for COVID-19, but Ohio Medicaid won’t clear the way for them to be paid
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine last week said that he wants to include pharmacists in the coronavirus fight, but he still didn’t offer details on how they’d be paid. Nor did the state department of Medicaid, which has a mechanism to compensate pharmacists to test the population that is most at risk from the virus. DeWine […]
DeWine somewhat eases testing limits as Trump falsely claims states have unlimited testing
As he leads the state through a historic pandemic, Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine has an apparently unbreakable rule: Don’t cross Trump. In his press conference Thursday, DeWine again addressed the inadequacy of Ohio’s coronavirus testing program. For example, he announced a fourth tier of Ohioans who are now eligible for state tests. People who have […]