Ohio's Republican-controlled legislature voted on Wednesday to freeze enrollment in the state's Medicaid healthcare insurance for the poor, setting the stage for a showdown with Republican Governor John Kasich, who favors expanding the program.
The proposed Medicaid freeze, which would deny coverage to hundreds of thousands of Ohio residents who lack job-related health insurance and cannot afford to purchase their own, was adopted as part of a $65 billion two-year budget plan.
The measure, approved by mostly party-line votes in both chambers of the state Legislature, would prohibit enrollment of new Medicaid recipients, or re-enrollment of lapsed beneficiaries, after July 2018.
Republicans, especially hard-line conservatives, say the Medicaid freeze is needed to help reduce costs.
But those god damn democrats are the ones ruining their lives