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Ohio: Ohio Business Roundtable

June 1, 2009 - 01:24 pm
NEWS FEED: Columbus Dispatch

Editorial: Unhealthy treatment

They just call them fees instead of taxes. One of the most harmful is the proposed hospital franchise fee, which would cost Ohio's cash-strapped hospitals $127 million, $333 million or $411 million, depending on whose plan and estimates one adopts.

The basic arithmetic is this: The state would impose the fee on hospitals and apply the revenue generated to the state's share of Medicaid. That money, combined with similar assessments on other health-care providers, would draw about $2 billion in matching funds from the federal government for the state's Medicaid program.

In return, the governor proposed to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates to hospitals so that they recoup some of the franchise fees they pay.

Read More at Columbus Dispatch >
There have been 31 comments posted in response to this story.

February 11, 2009 - 12:39 pm
NEWS FEED: Buckeye State Blog

Mike DeWine for Governor campaign launches on the Columbus Dispatch editorial pages

By modernesquire

At some point, you have to admire the Columbus Dispatch's complete abandonment of journalism ethics.  I mean, you let a guy announce his candidacy for Governor by giving him an editorial column, instead of a newsstory that addresses some of these points.

Today, the Columbus Dispatch published a column by former U.S. Senator/widely rumored GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike DeWine titled "Ohio needs new direction in tough times."  Nowhere does the Dispatch editorial writers notify its readership that this column is written by a person who has the personal ambition to run against Governor Strickland, and therefore, is a less than objective critic of the current Governor.

Read More at Buckeye State Blog >
There have been 21 comments posted in response to this story.

February 11, 2009 - 07:32 am
NEWS FEED: Columbus Dispatch

State budget director defends spending plan

By Jim Siegel

"This budget is sustainable when you take into account the estimates that our economists are giving us about the way in which the state's economy will be recovering, albeit slowly," J. Pari Sabety told the House Finance Committee yesterday in her first appearance presenting Gov. Ted Strickland's proposed $54.7 billion two-year budget.

But at this point, House Republicans just don't buy the math.

"When you look at the revenue forecasts they've put out for 2012 and 2013, it doesn't even come close. It's a huge gap," said Rep. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, the ranking minority member on the Finance Committee.

Sabety spent more than three hours yesterday on the governor's budget plans, accepting some compliments from Democrats while fending off a few tough questions from Republicans over the use of one-time money, the increase of 120 fees and a new school-funding plan.

Read More at Columbus Dispatch >
There have been 22 comments posted in response to this story.