Each Friday, Eye on the Statehouse announces its “Porker of the Week.” It’s our way of calling attention to a particularly big or wasteful spender.

This week’s “Porker” is the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS).

During testimony before the Ohio Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, ODJFS Director Helen Jones-Kelly advocated for Governor Ted Strickland’s plan to expand Ohio’s unsustainable Medicaid program.

Director Jones-Kelly urged senators to restore a provision removed by the Ohio House that allows families earning more than 300 percent of the federal poverty level or $62,000 a year to buy into Medicaid.

In the Ohio House, members believed programs such as Medicaid were intended for the considerably less affluent. They also believed allowing higher income families to participate would undermine the program’s purpose. They unanimously passed the state budget 97-0 without this Medicaid expansion provision.

Senators expressed the same level of apprehension toward the proposal. Senator Gary Cates (R-West Chester) told Director Jones-Kelly that families with incomes more than 300 percent of the poverty level earn more than some state legislators. “A family with that kind of income should be able to provide health insurance,” he said.

Buckeye Institute Analyst Marc Kilmer explained why the governor’s proposal makes bad economic and health care sense in a column entitled, “Strickland Heads Wrong Way on Medicaid.”

Kilmer writes:

The problem with Medicaid in Ohio is not that its requirements are too strict. Rather it is too expensive and recipients receive poor health care. However, the governor did not address these issues. In fact, his proposals would likely make Medicaid’s problems worse. Allowing more people to become part of a system that is already expensive and overburdened makes little sense.

In the past few years, Medicaid spending has grown at a rate from six percent to nine percent a year. This year, due to an improved economy and actions to restrain the cost of the program, spending actually went down slightly. However, the overall trend indicates that Medicaid spending will continue consuming a large portion of the Ohio budget. It already takes up around 40 percent of state expenditures.

Ohio cannot afford to see this number grow without limits. Governor Strickland’s plan will do just that. By expanding the income limits for those eligible for Medicaid, he is only adding to the burden the program places on taxpayers. And to the detriment of those who will go on Medicaid, he is also moving people into a system that produces a consistently poor quality of care.

The governor and Director Jones-Kelley should forward solutions that rein in Ohio’s out of control Medicaid costs. States like Florida and South Carolina have successfully addressed the issue and provide a good road map for Ohio.

For advocating the expansion of Medicaid beyond poor families, the ODJFS is this week’s Porker.

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