Mary Taylor, Ohio’s Lt. Governor and a Republican candidate for governor, unveiled a set of proposals in Cleveland on Monday that would change Ohio’s health care system.
Taylor, who is in charge of the state’s Department of Insurance, wants to switch Ohio to a direct primary care system. Regular doctor visits would be covered by a monthly membership; patients pay a flat monthly fee to a doctor or company who provides the routine services.
Insurance plans would become mainly for catastrophic coverage. Direct primary care is a system gaining in popularity among the GOP.
Taylor says it’s already proven in several states.
“This approach has significantly changed the doctor-patient relationship, providing better, more personal health care at lower costs," Taylor says.
Direct primary care doctors usually do not take insurance, including Medicare or Medicaid.
Taylor also opposes Gov. John Kasich’s Medicaid expansion, saying she would seek to shrink Medicaid with her first budget if elected next year.
“Medicaid expansion is not sustainable,” Taylor says. “It cannot be continued into the future. And my plan anticipates that we would, we would eliminate the Medicaid expansion and provide legitimate, sustainable, long-term solutions for some of the most important issues that we face.”
Medicaid expansion covers over 700,000 low-income adults in Ohio, under a plan that offers enrollment to anyone at or below 138 percent of the poverty line.
Taylor would limit Medicaid in Ohio to those unable to work. She is also proposing optional contributions by small businesses to employees’ health savings accounts.
Kasich's office did not say whether Taylor's comments on Medicaid affect the governor's support for her campaign.
