Democrats support Medicaid expansion
Ohio Democrats gathered in front of Good Samaritan Hospital on Friday to advocate forMedicaid expansion support.
The Dayton hospital is poised to close 12:01 a.m. Monday, and the hospital’s emergency department has already closed.
Local Democratic candidates said erosion of Medicaid expansion could lead to more hospital closings as that burden of care covered under the state-federal insurance programinstead becomes unpaid hospital bills and lost revenue.
Premier Health, which operates Good Samaritan, has said the hospital is closing because it isn’t sustainable to maintain two hospitals 5 miles from of each other when health care is shifting to outpatient settings and the population in Dayton is falling.
Premier did not endorse the event outside of the hospital.
Premier said in a statement following the event that the Dayton area is one of just a few large metropolitan areas in the United States that lack a public or university-operated hospital, which help cover the community cost of caring for Medicaid patients, and that combined with a “low per-capita level of local levy support for health services” underscores why area hospitals need Ohio’sMedicaid expansion to remainin place.
“However, Medicaid expansion was not a factor in the decision to close Good Samaritan Hospital’s main campus on Philadelphia Drive. Instead, Premier Health is doing its part to address the excess number of inpatient beds across the entire Dayton region,” Premier stated.
But Ohio Democrats still highlighted it Friday as a symbol of how curtailed Medicaid expansion could harm hospitals because they said it shows an example of a hospital closing and how that affects a community.
DavidPepper, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said Good Samaritan is“symbolic, unfortunately, of what might happen ifwe don’t get it right in November.”
“This Novemberwe have on the ballot a group of candidates like the candidates here today who are fighting for things like Medicaid expansion, they are fighting for people with pre-existing conditions,” he said. “On the other side we have opponents who have voted again and again againstMedicaid expansion.”
Besides Pepper, those in attendance included Ohio Senate District 5 candidate Paul Bradley, Ohio House District 40 candidate Ryan Rebecca Taylor, OhioHouse District 41 candidate and Dayton Public SchoolsBoard Vice President John M cM an us and Ohio House District 42 candidate Zach Dickerson.
MikeDeWine, Republican candidate for Ohio governor, recently said he would support keeping Medicaid expansion but would want reforms like work requirements. As Ohio Attorney General, De Wine had previously challenged the Affordable Care Act and its provisions, including Medicaid expansion. His Democratic opponent, Richard Cordray, supports Medicaid expansion.
About 700,000 low-income Ohioans are covered under the expansion ofMedicaid.