Menu

by Jack Fisher, executive vice president
Ohio Farm Bureau

"It's enormous, it's complex and it's broken." That’s how Jennifer Carlson described Ohio’s troubled Medicaid program when she visited with the Ohio Farm Bureau board of trustees. Carlson has spent the last 14 months heading a panel of medical experts, businesspersons and others who have intensively examined every aspect of the government health plan for Ohio’s poor, disabled and elderly. Their findings are grim.

Carlson told the trustees that Ohio’s Medicaid system focuses on illness instead of prevention. It is driven by health providers instead of health consumers. It lacks adequate information technology. In short, Medicaid recipients aren’t getting the best care money can buy. That’s disappointing considering how much we’re buying.

This year, Ohio’s $10.5 billion Medicaid tab will consume over 42 percent of the general revenue fund. In just five years, it’s projected to cost over $16 billion and eat up 51 percent of the state's resources. Of course, by "state’s resources," I mean your tax dollars.

Every person in Ohio paid $661 for Medicaid in 2003. That's according to a Buckeye Institute report which said, incredibly, many Ohioans pay a bigger tax tab for Medicaid than they pay for their own health insurance. It’s projected to get worse. By 2006, your $661 will become $1,100, a 67 percent jump in just three years. If that pace continues, Medicaid will eventually exhaust the entire state budget, leaving no money for schools, roads, prisons or any other vital state service on which we rely.

There is little argument that Medicaid is sick. But arguments over how to make it healthy will be anything but little. Your Farm Bureau leaders know they are wading into a difficult debate. But they are engaging because this issue will impact every Farm Bureau member's life and livelihood for generations to come. Your leaders will approach this challenge by learning the facts and applying common sense. You and I need to follow their lead.

We face challenging choices. But making choices is something the farm community knows all about. Who hasn't put off buying a new pick-up because bean yields were down? What farmer hasn't welded and duct-taped so the equipment will last another year? Farmers learn early on to not over-spend, and when you do need to spend, spend wisely. Shouldn’t Medicaid be run the same way?

Your trustees heard some examples of how taxpayer dollars could be better utilized. Carlson explained that only about one-half of Ohio’s Medicaid-covered drugs are generic, yet for every 1 percent switch to generics, Ohio would save $20 million per year. Secretary of State Ken Blackwell told the board that an estimated 20 percent of the beneficiaries in nursing homes could be better served – and prefer to be served – in their own homes. That change would save $1.5 billion per year. And the Buckeye Institute's report notes that Ohio currently is paying for 13,000 empty Medicaid beds.

These three examples tell me that we can pay less for Medicaid without sacrificing quality care. I encourage you to look deeper into our choices, form your opinions and help Farm Bureau establish its positions. Visit the featured links section at www.ofbf.org to connect to reports from the Ohio Commission to Reform Medicaid and the Buckeye Institute. Because every one of our more than 223,000 members will be affected as a beneficiary, taxpayer or both, Farm Bureau will be a major player in this important public debate. We will be advocates for a Medicaid system that adequately serves those who need it and is accountable to those who pay for it.