As the debate over Medicaid expansion in Ohio rages, a consortium of Butler County health care leaders threw their support behind the proposal Tuesday, saying the expansion would be good for health care and the economy by aiding the working poor.

A provision in Gov. John Kasichs proposed biennial budget calls for the extension of Medicaid to individuals up to age 65 and up to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

Detractors claim that the provision would trade dubious short-term gains for long-term losses. But those in attendance at a rally for Medicaid expansion held at Primary Health Solutions in Middletown maintained raising the level to 138 would bring a lot of additional people into the system.

Many of them work and fall just above the current line, said Marc Bellisario, CEO of Primary Health Solutions. In the current system, if you work, you cant get assistance for health care.

According to a fast facts summary issued by the Ohio Council of Behavioral Health and Family Services providers, the expansion would allow more than 275,000 low-income parents and single adults statewide to have coverage for the treatment of physical and behavioral health conditions.

The expansion, the summary said, would free up $404 million in the state budget over the next two years, will ensure that $13 billion in federal taxes paid by Ohio citizens would come back to the state.

This policy creates 30,000 jobs in the health care sector (and) in the private marketplace as people gain access to treatment and can successfully return to work and participate in Ohios economy, the summary said.

An estimated 16,679 people in Butler County would sign up for Medicaid under the proposed expansion and 4,208 would do so in Warren County, according to a recently released report by a partnership of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, Ohio State University, the Urban Institute and Regional Economic Models, Inc. The expansion is also estimated to generate $499,722 in sales tax for Butler County and $168,089 for Warren County, according to the 12-page report.

Bellisario said that many people who work in jobs without adequate health care insurance will often postpone seeking medical attention for problems until they become serious.

Then they end up in emergency rooms, and that costs us all, he said.

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Butler County health care leaders support Medicaid expansion