In response to the President's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Governor Ted Strickland said he doesn't believe the veto jeopardizes the Ohio expansion of SCHIP over the next two years because the state is pursuing a "Medicaid plan amendment to implement the expansion rather than doing it through Ohio's SCHIP program." (Source: "Governor, Others React to SCHIP Veto," The Hannah Report, Oct. 4, 2007.). The state's planned SCHIP expansion was included as part of the budget for the current biennium.
Stickland also said that should Congress fail to override the veto and Ohio fails to get its plan amendment approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), he would consider legal action. "I don't want to take that approach and hope it can be avoided," he said.
The article also quotes Buckeye Institute healthcare policy analyst Marc Kilmer as supporting the veto. "Unfortunately, earlier this year the General Assembly and Gov. Strickland expanded SCHIP to families 300 percent above the poverty level before waiting to see if the federal government would pay the bill. Expanding SCHIP significantly above the poverty level is fiscally imprudent and counterproductive to improving the quality of children's health care." For more of Kilmer's view of the SCHIP veto, go here.
