Mark,
  Thank you for all of your communications and exceptional advocacy.  Teresa

-----Original Message-----
From: list-manager@opra.simplelists.com [mailto:list-manager@opra.simplelists.com] On Behalf Of Janice Hall
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 12:12 PM
To: opra_members@opra.simplelists.com
Subject: Re: Governor Kasich Announces Intent to Proceed with Medicaid Extension, Asking for Controlling Board Appropriation Authority
Importance: High

Mark,
Thank you for all of your hard work on this.  You did a great job with the message!
Janice

On 10/11/2013 12:04 pm, Mark Davis wrote:
> Today, Governor John Kasich announced that the extension of health
> care benefits to low-wage workers will be on the October 21st
> Controlling Board agenda. He will ask the panel to allocate federal
> funds to extend Medicaid health insurance benefits to 275,000 Ohioans
> who currently live without insurance. This is a clear pathway to get
> Medicaid expansion in place by January 1, 2014.
>
> OPRA stands behind Governor Kasich. We commend the Administration for
> its vigilance in pursuing a state plan amendment and taking the
> necessary steps to place the appropriation before the Controlling
> Board. OPRA urges the Controlling Board to approve the appropriation.
>
> Among the Ohioans who would receive Medicaid benefits are OPRA’s
> direct support professionals with incomes under 138 percent of
> poverty, along with more than 26,000 veterans and more than 50,000
> Ohioans with unmet behavioral health needs. Extension would also bring
> relief for employers faced with the Affordable Care Act mandate for
> employer-sponsored health care. This would equate to estimated savings
> of $20 million annually for OPRA members alone.
>
> OPRA has been working hard for many months to bring about health care
> reform generally and Medicaid extension specifically. Our efforts have
> focused largely on supporting either a legislative solution or a
> ballot initiative to achieve this latter goal. However, the
> Controlling Board approach was always on the table and has seemed
> increasingly more likely in recent weeks.
>
> We recognize that the Controlling Board approach may well pose a
> challenge to the leaders of the Ohio General Assembly. It might also
> spur a legal challenge from organizations seeking to delay or defeat
> _any_ undertaking to extend health care coverage in Ohio.
>
> Nevertheless, we believe Governor Kasich has assessed his options
> thoughtfully and is proceeding down the path he believes has the most
> promise for success. He has the full support of OPRA.
>
> Here is an article on Ohio getting approval from CMS to proceed down
> this path, if the governor decided to pursue it.
> http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/10/ohio_gains_federal_app
> roval_to.html#incart_river_default
> [1]
>
> Here is information from the Governor's Office of Health
> Transformation on the extension of Medicaid coverage.
> http://www.healthtransformation.ohio.gov/Budget/ExtendMedicaidServices
> .aspx
> [2]
>
> Please watch your email for how you can be helpful in making Medicaid
> extension a reality for our direct support professionals and other
> uninsured Ohioans.
>
> Mark Davis
> President
> Ohio Provider Resource Association
> 1152 Goodale Blvd.
> Columbus, Ohio 43212
> 614-224-6772
>
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> Links:
> ------
> [1]
> http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/10/ohio_gains_federal_app
> roval_to.html#incart_river_default
> [2]
> http://www.healthtransformation.ohio.gov/Budget/ExtendMedicaidServices
> .aspx
You are receiving this important information as a member service of the Ohio Provider Resource Association.  Unless messages and/or replies are specifically directed, each posting/response is sent to the entire group.  This group is open only to OPRA members, a large and diverse body.  The views of individual list serve users do not necessarily reflect the view of the OPRA Board or Staff.  To send a message to this list serve, please use the reply button.  To reply only to the original sender, please respond to the email listed after “on behalf of” in the FROM line of the message header.  Thank you.