ICYMI: Youngstown Vindicator: DeWine Should Join Kasich in Opposing Health Care Suit

In case you missed it, the Youngstown Vindicator took Ohio Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine to task in a recent editorial for staying silent in the wake of the most recent wave of Republican attacks on protections for those with pre-existing conditions. In another case of disunity in the Ohio GOP, DeWine did not join Gov. John Kasich’s opposition to Republican attempts to repeal protections as he refuses to support Kasich’s Medicaid expansion.
You can read excerpts below or the full piece HERE:
Youngstown Vindicator– DeWine Should Join Kasich in Opposing Health Care Suit
“Perhaps it’s because he will be leaving office in December, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, is taking positions on major issues that’s putting him on a collision course with members of his party.
Twenty Republican state attorneys general filed the lawsuit to eliminate the pre-existing condition portion of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).
The U.S. Justice Department filed a brief in the case saying it would no longer defend the pre-existing condition portion of the ACA.
According to Cleveland.com (the Cleveland Plain Dealer), DeWine, Ohio’s attorney general and the Republican nominee for governor in the November general election, did not join or intervene in the lawsuit.
…DeWine should publicly embrace the position taken by Gov. Kasich and the eight other governors in opposition to the lawsuit filed by the attorneys general and the Justice Department’s brief.
Any attempt to dismantle the Medicaid expansion will jeopardize the health care of hundreds of thousands of Ohioans.
It is noteworthy, within the context of the November general election, that the Democratic nominee for governor, Richard Cordray, who served as the first director of the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, is unwavering in his support of the Republican governor on the issue of Medicaid, in particular, and the Affordable Care Act, in general.
DeWine, on the other hand, has shied away from embracing Medicaid expansion.
Kasich is understandably concerned about DeWine’s refusal to totally commit to the Medicaid expansion because “you would be yanking the rug out from other people,” if it were dismantled.
“They’ve got nowhere else to go,” the governor said about the hundreds of thousands of Ohioans, many of whom are considered the working poor.
It is revealing that 138 percent of poverty – the level at which Ohioans qualify for Medicaid coverage – translates to $28,676 a year for household of three. That’s why they cannot afford to pay for health insurance.
All Americans should have access to high quality, affordable health care, which is why Gov. Kasich is to be commended for expanding the Medicaid program.”