Kaptur leads Ohio Congressional Democrats in a letter to Governor Kasich urging action to stabilize health markets

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Dean of the Ohio Delegation, led a letter this week to Ohio Governor John Kasich urging the State of Ohio to protect constituents' health insurance from rising costs and efforts by the Trump Administration to undermine health care markets. The letter was cosigned by Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-13), Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03).

"We write to urge you to reject partisan attacks on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and continue to work across the aisle to protect our constituents' health insurance," the Members wrote in the letter. "Bipartisan solutions that reduce out of pocket health care costs for working families must be developed. Since the passage of the ACA, many Republicans have worked on a national and state level to undermine or eliminate the law despite the fact that millions already receive coverage through the ACA, including 940,627 individuals in Ohio, comprised of 710,500 Medicaid beneficiaries and 230,127 Marketplace enrollees."

"There are a number of actions at the state level that would help increase coverage and improve the affordability of care for families in our state that will also counteract the harmful work of Republicans in Washington," the Members continued. "[We] urge you to work to implement some or all of these options to help ensure stability and lower costs for our residents."

The Members listed four potential options in their letter:

1. Protect state residents by limiting the sale of sub-par junk insurance plans.
2. Boost coverage (and lower costs) by increasing outreach, enrollment and marketing.
3. Protect consumers by ensuring their health plan provides essential health benefits, like hospital care, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, or prescription drug coverage.
4. Use existing Affordable Care Act (ACA) authority to craft a reinsurance program to reduce health insurance premiums.

Download a full copy of the letter here: