Obama Making Good on Quick Stimulus – Tells Governors Medicaid Help On The Way

$15 Billion in Medicaid Budget Relief for states will arrive on Wednesday

Ohio’s Take Over $500 million

Gov. Ted Strickland and the nation’s other governors were told today by President Barack Obama that by the time they get home from their meeting in Washington, D.C., Medicaid relief funds will be available to their states.

Obama said that $15 billion in Medicaid funds will be available to help ease state budgets by Wednesday.  Ohio’s amount of relief comes to $500,169,636, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Medicaid relief was part of the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the so-called economic stimulus bill.

Republicans have said that money to stabilize state budgets, such as Medicaid relief, is not stimulus.  However, in many states the largest portion of the budget is related to programs like Medicaid.  Small hospitals, doctors and community service providers rely on Medicaid funds in order to provide services.  Without Medicaid funding relief, many working poor would have only emergency rooms as a health care option.  This is the most expensive care and a deluge of charity cases could break some health care providers.  Medicaid relief keeps services viable and ensures hospitals, doctors and community service providers will not have to cut staff.

In part, Obama told the governors today:

By the time most of you get home; money will be waiting to help 20 million vulnerable Americans in your states keep their health care coverage,” he told a gathering of the nation’s governors in the State Dining Room of the White House. “Children with asthma will be able to breathe easier, seniors won’t need to fear losing their doctors, and pregnant women with limited means won’t have to worry about the health of their babies.