The Ohio burgee. (Getty images file photo.)
Every morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio and around the country and world that is catching our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye, republished here.
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Catching Our Eye
• Medicaid. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Jo Ingles reports, “Report: more than half a million Ohioans could lose Medicaid coverage in next decade.”
A new report shows recent cuts in funding from Ohio’s Medicaid budget will force more than a half a million Ohioans off the program in the next decade and threaten the closure of 31 hospitals and clinics in Ohio.
Rep. Ashley Bryant Bailey (D-Cincinnati) said nearly 200,000 Ohioans have already lost care because of Medicaid cuts, with another 290,000 likely to be removed from Medicaid in the next decade…
The report from the group Protect Our Care says 31 hospitals, clinics and providers in Ohio are at risk of closing or are announcing cuts. That will increase stress on emergency rooms, and rural patients will have to travel to get medical care.
• Utilities. Cleveland.com’s Anna Staver reports, “Could Ohio repeat the mistakes behind its largest public corruption scandal?”
After Ohio’s largest public corruption case ended in the imprisonment of Republican House Speaker Larry Householder, state lawmakers rebuilt the wall between utilities companies and the power plants that generate our electricity.
But as electricity demand surges and electric bills keep climbing, a pair of Republican lawmakers say nuclear should become an exception.
• Data centers. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Victoria Moorwood, Haley BeMiller, Kelly Byer, Samantha Hendrickson, and Maria DeVito report, “Amid critics, ‘quiet’ deals, has Ohio flipped on data centers?”
Ohio residents are increasingly concerned about the growing number of data centers and their impact on local resources and the environment. Citizen groups have organized across the state, leading some communities to enact temporary bans on new data center construction.
State lawmakers are debating how to regulate the industry, considering issues like tax exemptions and environmental effects. Proponents argue data centers bring significant construction jobs and tax revenue to local economies.
• Mental and behavioral health. The Dayton Daily News’ Samantha Wildow reports, “Ohio lawmakers push for behavioral health checks, pursue regulations on health plans, insurers.”
Most health insurance plans must cover, at no cost, annual physicals and certain preventative care, and lawmakers want the same for Ohioan’s mental and behavioral health.
State lawmakers discussed bills that have implications for health insurance before the Ohio House Insurance Committee during its latest meeting, including hearing sponsorship testimony on a bill involving annual checkups for behavioral health.
• Payoff fund. CNN reports, “Trump administration creates $1.776 billion fund for allies of the president after he drops lawsuit against IRS.”
The Justice Department on Monday announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate President Donald Trump’s allies who claim they were unfairly targeted by the previous administration.
It’s an unprecedented move that would allow the president’s administration to pay his supporters from a government agency he controls with taxpayer money.
Its creation comes as Trump dropped his $10 billion lawsuit alleging that the Internal Revenue Service failed to protect Trump and the Trump Organization from an unauthorized leak of their tax returns.
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