Blackwell Plan Would Mandate Coverage

Columbus, Ohio – Ken Blackwell announced a health care plan today that would impose up to a $7 billion mandate on Ohio’s citizens over the next four years, forcing them to purchase health care regardless of whether they can afford it.

At a time when Ohio is losing jobs by the hundreds of thousands and energy and college tuition costs are skyrocketing, Blackwell’s plan would put additional strain on Ohio’s families. If you assume that Blackwell’s plan will require Ohio’s 1 million Medicaid-ineligible uninsured to carry monthly premiums of $150, the four-year cost would be $7 billion or more.

“We must work to offer access to affordable health insurance to our people without forcing them into plans they can't afford,” said gubernatorial candidate Congressman Ted Strickland. “By using purchasing pools and matching grants from the federal government, we can lower health care costs without compromising care.”

In addition, an individual mandate would encourage businesses to terminate their employer-sponsored health care, forcing previously insured Ohioans to pick up the tab for their coverage.

Strickland’s health care plan, announced last week, would take no new tax dollars and utilize free-market competition to lower insurance premiums for employers and individuals to voluntarily buy health care coverage. And by subsidizing low-income workers up to 150% of the poverty level, Strickland’s plan empowers Ohioans to purchase their own health care at affordable rates, without mandates.

Other elements of Blackwell’s announcement closely mirror Strickland’s plan, including receiving a federal Medicaid waiver to provide flexibility in using federal funds and placing an emphasis on preventive medicine to diagnose health problems before they become critical and more costly to treat.

Strickland’s proposals also include:

• Aggressively reaching out to the parents of the 150,000 children in Ohio who are eligible for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan but are not enrolled.
• Establishing the Healthy Ohio initiative to eliminate duplicative health and social services and incentivize health contractors to achieve specific wellness benchmarks through early intervention and prevention.
• Addressing the nursing shortage by offering incentives to recruit nursing faculty
• Supporting disabled Ohioans who seek employment by offering them an affordable option to buy-in to Medicaid.
• Supporting the use of electronic medical records, “real time” telemedicine and other innovations to increase efficiencies and enhance care.