toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - Advocates for the poor and sick hope rosier revenue projections for the next two years may lead to a change of heart in the General Assembly when it comes to cutting health-care programs.

The House and Senate-passed budget proposals have largely agreed on dropping Medicaid health coverage for 25,000 working-poor parents and cutting routine dental services for about 800,000 Ohioans.

A program supplying prescription drugs to 15,000 extremely poor, uninsured, medication-dependent Ohioans, slated for elimination under both plans, reportedly stands the best chance of seeing some reprieve as a joint House-Senate conference committee begins debate this morning on how to resolve differences between their two-year, $51 billion spending plans.

The two proposals are $105 million, or just 0.3 percent, apart.

"It is an uphill fight, but it was an uphill fight when we started in January," said John Corlett, co-chairman of the Campaign to Protect Ohio's Future, a coalition of 370 human services organizations.

Schools, cities, and libraries will also be in line for any unexpected dollars, even as legislative leaders say they would prefer putting aside any largess into budgetary reserves or more tax cuts.

A new budget must be in place by July 1.

"I'm going to continue to fight for our overall spending levels in the House," said House Speaker Jon Husted (R., Kettering).

"If there's extra money, we should give it to the citizens of Ohio to generate economic growth in the state," Mr. Husted said.

Eleven months into the fiscal year ending June 30, the state has collected $613 million, or 3.7 percent, in taxes over estimates. Collections are nearly $1.5 billion, or 9.3 percent, ahead of what the state had collected at the same point last year.

The conference committee is expected to receive higher revenue projections as well as a lower estimate on demand for Medicaid services.

The Republican majority is reportedly discussing using some of the extra cash to reduce the impact of a proposed 30 percent hike in a tax on electricity and an exemption under the new gross-receipts tax to reduce the number of times gasoline is taxed before it reaches motorists at the pump.

Knowing legislative leaders' concern for the bottom line, the social service coalition is proposing redirecting $92 million in state Medicaid funds it says would be saved by investing more in in-home care for the elderly instead of more expensive nursing homes.

But while revenue numbers have been encouraging, future projections are tempered by announcements like that of General Motors, which plans to slash 25,000 jobs nationally. Ohio has 10 GM plants employing 20,000.

David Ellis of the Cleveland-based Center for Policy Solutions said the GM announcement could both hurt and hamper efforts to restore funding for threatened programs.

"Think about friends, brothers, and sisters who are 50 years old, have worked in a manufacturing job all their lives, who are now turned away as a result of changes in the economy," Mr. Ellis said. "What do they do? What if they get sick? These programs are there for those folks."

Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.

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