Medicaid eligibility is changing and Ohio community health centers will take a hit.
Medicaid eligibility is being re-determined in Ohio for the first time in three years. A federal mandate allowed Ohioans to stay enrolled in Medicaid insurance, even if their eligibility had changed, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the federal public health emergency has ended and April marks the end of that protection. More than 200,000 Ohioans are expected to be deemed ineligible and lose their coverage in the next year. The decline in Medicaid enrollment could mean big losses for community health centers, who largely serve low-income patients. Teresa Rios-Bishop, membership director of the Ohio Community Health Center Association, said the impact for centers will be significant. She said many communities are bracing for how this could change their care. “It certainly has a chilling effect for the patients and the health centers themselves,” she said. Nationally, total health center revenue is expected to decrease between four and seven percent, according to George Washington Uni