Controlling Board authorizes expanded Ohio Medicaid program and challenge filed in Ohio Supreme Court

With a 5-2 vote, the Controlling Board – a seven-member legislative oversight panel that has become the focal point of Ohio’s debate over expanding Medicaid – has authorized $2.56 billion in federal dollars toward providing health care to 275,000 uninsured Ohioans.

This vote brings the latest chapter of Medicaid expansion to a close and possibly opens a few more. Although approval makes Ohio the 25th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, various entities are exploring legal options to block this particular path to expansion.

On October 22, 2013 the Cleveland Right to Life and a collection of Ohio legislative representatives filed a challenge to the Controlling Board action in the Ohio Supreme Court. The lawsuit argues that the Controlling Board has usurped the constitutional guarantee of separation of powers and that the executive branch of government does not have the power to make such a major policy change administratively. Read a copy of the lawsuit.