Loren C. Anthes, MBA – Public Policy Fellow and Director, Medicaid Policy Center, Center for Community Solutions

Dear Colleagues:

When Governor Kasich engineered expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, against the wishes of Republicans in the state legislature, he was excoriated by other Republicans. That raises questions about the expansion’s fate with a new governor. On July 11 Republican candidate Mike DeWine switched positions and announced he now supports the expansion but would “reform the program.” But that raises other questions – such as what is at stake if his position is not sincere, and what “reform” could be needed.

What is at stake in the expansion depends on how it has performed. On August 21 the Ohio Department of Medicaid issued a comprehensive Assessment of the expansion, with some striking findings. They included that 17.5% of Ohioans aged 19-64 have participated in the program at some time since it was implemented; that Ohio’s uninsured rate was cut in half, driven primarily by the expansion; that the program has improved not only enrollees’ health but their wellbeing in other ways; and that “Medicaid enrollment facilitates/enables employment.”

The report does not directly address but has implications for other questions – such as whether the Medicaid expansion may actually save the state money on other programs. Join us as Loren Anthes discusses the report, the reasons the state expanded coverage, and the political context based on the Center for Community Solutions’ own work on the program.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest

Loren Anthes serves as Public Policy Fellow and leads Community Solutions’ Medicaid Policy Center. Anthes has significant public and private sector experience and has worked extensively with and as part of the legislative and executive branches of local, state and federal governments. This includes serving as manager of State and Local Government Relations for The MetroHealth System and working for the Ohio Medicaid Department. Anthes holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Ohio University and a Health Care Master of Business Administration from Baldwin Wallace University.

Where We Meet

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library.

* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

October 26: The Impact of Conflict on Health: A Family Physician’s Report from Bosnia and Afghanistan. With Geoff Hodgetts MD, Professor, Queens University School of Medicine.

November 2: Biennial Pre-Election Forecast Discussion. With Joseph White, Luxenberg Professor of Public Policy, and Andrew M. Lucker, Adjunct Professor of Political Science Alternate Location: Mather House Room 100, 11201 Euclid Ave.

November 9: Too Much Trust? Older Patients and Their Doctors. With Eva Kahana, Distinguished University Professor and Pierce T. and Elizabeth D. Robson Professor of Humanities, Department of Sociology.

November 16: Questions and Answers About Recycling Plastics. With John Blackwell, Leonard Case Jr. Professor Emeritus, Macromolecular Science and Engineering.

November 23: Thanksgiving break.

November 30: Just How Powerful is Putin? With Stephen Crowley, Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, Oberlin College.

December 7: Union Decline in a Populist Era: The Experience of Western Democracies. With Chris Howell, James Monroe Professor of Politics, Oberlin College.