AARP appalled at Ohio House refusal to extend health coverage

Bill Sundermeyer, state government affairs associate state director for AARP Ohio, released the following statement this morning:

It is highly irresponsible for the Ohio House of Representatives to cost taxpayers billions, to put lives at risk, hospitals in jeopardy and jobs on the chopping block rather than extend Medicaid to cover hard-working Ohioans in low-wage jobs that don’t include health insurance. Among Ohioans adversely affected are 26,000 veterans who will be denied health coverage.

Refusing to include Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to take advantage of $13 billion in federal funds to pay for health care for hundreds of thousands of uninsured Ohioans in the state’s next biennium budget is purely and simply putting politics before people.

AARP will continue to work in support of extending health coverage to hard-working Ohioans in low-wage jobs and will inform our 1.5 million members statewide of their Ohio House members’ vote on this critical issue. We hope to convince legislators to take advantage of this opportunity to provide affordable health care to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Ohioans.