Here in Ohio, the TV ad war between U.S. Sen. Jon Husted and his Democratic challenger, Sherrod Brown, is heating up. Gov. Mike DeWine, who supported a big tax break for data centers, has killed the tax break, at least temporarily, after it came out that the tax break is costing the state a lot of money.
And then there is the fight against fraud, which suddenly is top of mind for Republicans here in Ohio and across the country.
For these topics, we’ll turn to our panel discussion from WOSU-TV’s "Columbus on the Record." We are joined by reporter Sarah Donaldson from Ohio Public Radio, Republican strategist Terry Casey, and Democratic strategist Stanley Gates.
We’ll start with Ohio’s fight against fraud.
For weeks, DeWine has faced criticism from his fellow Republicans over allegations of widespread fraud in the state’s Medicaid system. It started with a report in the conservative outlet The Daily Wire, which accused home health agencies of fraudulently billing the system that pays for healthcare for low-income and disabled people.
House Speaker Matt Huffman said the DeWine administration was not doing enough to prevent fraud.
DeWine released a list of steps he’s taking to address the allegations. They include a moratorium on new home healthcare companies accepting Medicaid reimbursements, using electronic monitoring to verify visits by home healthcare workers, and other measures.
The nation’s top Medicare and Medicaid official, Dr. Mehmet Oz, recently visited Ohio. He defended DeWine but said Ohio needs more safeguards.