Ex-Ohio Gov. Kasich urges compassion in Medicaid pitch to NC

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and other speakers on Tuesday shared the experiences of states expanding Medicaid to more working adults, as North Carolina legislators carefully weigh whether they should now accept the coverage.

Kasich, a former Republican presidential candidate, and presenters on programs in Montana, Indiana and Michigan told a General Assembly study committee about successes and challenges after the states accepted expansion through the 2010 federal health care law. Many spoke about how expansion was fiscally responsible, improved health outcomes by treating cancer and other illness that would otherwise be left unchecked, and reduced the amount of services for which hospitals wouldn’t otherwise be reimbursed.

Kasich, who helped begin Medicaid in Ohio in 2014, also offered a plea of compassion to the lawmakers, making a biblical reference to helping the least fortunate.

There are “a lot of people that need a lot of help. We have to open our hearts to those people,” Kasich said by video conference from Ohio. “That doesn’t mean that when we do that we put ourselves on the road to bankruptcy.”

North Carolina is among a dozen states that haven’t expanded Medicaid under the 2010 federal health care law to those who make too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but don’t make enough to qualify for government-subsidized private insurance.

Republicans who run the legislature have worried for years about runaway Medicaid spending and have been suspicious of the federal government keeping its end of the financial bargain to cover 90% of costs. Presentations about expansion in these Republican-leaning or purple states may help assuage concerns.

“Great states can not only take care of some of the people, but they have to take care of all of the people in one way or another to make sure that they have an opportunity to be able to have a decent life and to figure out what their God-given purpose is,” Kasich said.

The committee is collecting information on whether expansion and other health care access changes make sense in the nation’s ninth-largest state. Expansion supporters have been encouraged by recent openness from within the GOP, particularly when Senate leader Phil Berger announced in late 2021 that he’d be willing to support the idea.