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Governor Delivers State of the State Address in Steubenville |
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Governor Delivers State of
the State Address in Steubenville
Governor John Kasich broke
with long-established tradition by giving his State of State address in
Steubenville instead of the House of Representatives. Tuesday’s speech also was
longer than the norm and consisted mainly of the Governor recounting what he
considered to be his first year accomplishments and pointing out different
people in the audience. At the head of the list was cutting Medicaid costs. The
Governor praised Greg Moody, Director of Office of Health Transformation, and
began his discussion of Medicaid with these comments:
Now, for
how many years did you read the studies of the fact that we wanted Mom and Dad
to stay in their home rather than going in a nursing home? For how many years
did we say that home health care and the ability for Mom and Dad to be healthier
and happier and more independent ought to be accomplished and we can’t do it?
But we did it, didn’t we, in this budget? Mom and Dad can now stay at home if
they’re able to at about a fifth of the cost of being in a nursing home. Thank
you for your work on that.
Despite
its length, the Governor’s speech did not contain much in the way of specific
proposals for the coming year. He did touch upon the health home initiative for
people with mental illness and a couple of other health care topics, but he did
not mention the duals project or the single waiver proposal or suggest anything
that is not underway already.
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