COLUMBUS, Ohio — Medicaid Reimbursement Rates continue to go through committee meetings at the Ohio Statehouse. Starting April 1, nearly 200,000 people could be kicked off of their Medicaid benefits, because who is eligible for Medicaid is being reevaluated for the first time since the department stopped that process during the pandemic.
What You Need To Know
- Medicaid reimbursement rates continue to go through committee meetings
- Carol Leonard is a 66-year-old woman who needs health aides
- Leonard was diagnosed with neuromuscular disease at 22 years old
However, another issue affecting people that seek Medicaid is not having enough health aides.
Some people said it’s because of the low pay under the Medicaid benefits in place.
Carol Leonard of Ashtabula County relies on her electronic wheelchair to get around. She was diagnosed with neuromuscular disease when she was 22 years old, and it’s progressive.
“Being at home, I can afford to be able to not only eat the foods I need to eat,” Leonard said. “Can maintain my good health, but somebody had suggested maybe I should go into assisted living instead. Or, god forbid, I never want to leave this house.”
Medicaid approved of her getting help seven days per week. However, she said there aren’t enough workers to cover what she needs.
She said it’s been nearly a year and a half since she has had all the help Medicaid initially approved her for.
Lisa Von Lehmden Zidek is the Board Chair of the Ohio Council for Homecare and Hospice, and previously told Spectrum News the reason health aides are being paid a low amount is because of the cost that Medicaid covers within its budget at the moment.
“I know the agency can’t get people to work because the pay is so low,” Leonard said. “And I just know that it would cost so much more to pay a nursing home for my care.”
Lehmden Zidek said the typical home health aide visit that is considered personal care or homemaking is roughly reimbursed around $17 to $18. She said it leaves agencies to pay their health aides nearly $10 to $12 an hour.
“When the girls can’t be here for whatever reason, then it makes a challenge that I wasn’t counting on for the day and I have to readjust,” Leonard said. “Do I want to risk trying to pull something out of the refrigerator and breaking eggs all over the floor and then those kinds of things? It’s almost like it’s an accident waiting to happen.”
She hopes budget talks with Medicaid will soon be completed.
Lehmden Zidek told Spectrum News an amount of health aides can’t be quantified. She said even if 5,000 home health care aides were hired immediately, that might not be enough to meet immediate need.
Sen. Mark Romanchuk, R-Ontario, is chairperson of the Medicaid committee that is looking to increase dollars to Medicaid. He previously told Spectrum News the committee is looking at every aspect of Medicaid and no decision has been made.
Medicaid Home Health Reimbursement Rates are being discussed in the committee hearings at the Statehouse.
In an Ohio House Finance Subcommittee on Health and Human Services on Wednesday, Lehmden Zidek told lawmakers they are pleased the DeWine administration wants to give a 20% increase but that might not be enough.
