We Believe Ohio, an alliance of faith leaders that was instrumental in the voter referendum that overturned Ohio Senate Bill 5 in 2011, reconvened yesterday to schedule a rally at the Ohio Statehouse to support keeping Medicaid expansion in the state budget.
Expanding Medicaid eligibility would make health care coverage available to 275,000 low-income Ohioans.
The rally will convene at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 5 in the George Washington Williams Room of the Ohio Statehouse. When entering the Statehouse from the State Street side, take the first hallway on your left and go down the hall to the last room on your right.
This action should lay to rest any notion that We Believe Ohio is engaged in partisan politics. The faith coalition opposed Ohio SB 5, which Governor John Kasich supported, because the legislation severely limited public employees' collective bargaining rights. But for Medicaid expansion, the coalition is firmly in Governor Kasich's corner.
Last month, Kasich included Medicaid expansion in his proposed two-year state budget, citing both economic and moral reasons why it would be good for Ohio. Kasich's proposal faces opposition from many of his fellow Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly.
Advocates for Ohio's Future, an organization that works to maintain vital public services for Ohio's most vulnerable populations, has created a sign-on letter for people of faith to urge their state legislators to support Medicaid expansion.
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