Latest news with #SurveyofIncomeandProgramParticipation
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Working Ohioans will lose health insurance under Medicaid work requirements
(Stock photo via Getty Images) If you know anyone who works in the service industry, you should be very familiar with the problem of hour volatility. When work hours aren't set, worker schedules can vary greatly from week to week and from month to month. This can make a steady stream of income difficult to achieve for service workers. It can also affect eligibility for public benefits. The Ohio Department of Medicaid is currently working with the federal government to implement work requirements for Ohio's 'Medicaid expansion' population–the 760,000 Ohio residents who receive health insurance through the Kasich Administration-era expansion of Medicaid. These work requirements would apply to households at 138% of the federal poverty level and below. Low-income households tend to be headed by people who work in the service industry. My colleague Michael Hartnett estimates that cooks and waiters are the second- and fifth-most common jobs among people in the bottom 20% of income in Ohio. A new analysis by Brookings Institution researchers looks at how the volatility of hours for service workers will impact eligibility for benefits like Medicaid and SNAP. One of the things they look at is the mental model that undergirds the current work requirement system. In 1976, only 26% of low-income employees worked in the service sector. By 2024, that number had risen to 38%. This means that 50 years ago, the contours of an unsteady sector had less of an impact on month-to-month hours than it does today. These researchers used data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to estimate that 64% of service workers worked less than 80 hours in at least one month in 2022. A third (34%) of workers who work an average of 80 hours a month had at least one month that year that they worked less than 80 hours. That means that a monthly work requirement of 80 hours would have disqualified a third of service workers at some point during 2022 from benefits like Medicaid or SNAP. The researchers also find these volatile work hours are largely outside of the control of the workers. According to their analysis, three-quarters of service workers with irregular schedules say their schedules are at the request of their employers, not their own. This is also a high rate among non-service workers, where over 3 in 5 low-income workers with irregular schedules are conforming to employer requirements. So what does this mean? It means tens of thousands of low-income workers in Ohio could lose their health insurance because of work hour volatility out of their control. The labor market has changed a lot over the past fifty years, especially for low-income workers. This has led to less certainty about hours, which makes thresholds like monthly hours not as effective for gauging whether people are participating in the labor force. There are a lot of reasons to be worried about work requirements. The fact that working people will lose health insurance because lack of control over work hours is just another one to add to the list. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bipartisan bill would help Ohioans pay off their medical debt, but not eliminate it
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Illustration by iStock / Getty Images Plus. A pair of Ohio House lawmakers want to help people pay off their medical debt. State Reps. Michele Grim, D-Toledo, and Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, are introducing the Ohio Medical Debt Fairness Act. The bill would lower the maximum interest rate for medical debt to 3% per year; prohibit hospitals, medical providers, and third-party collectors from reporting medical debt to credit agencies; and ban wage garnishment for medical debt collections. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'Medical debt can happen to anyone,' Grim said Tuesday during a news conference. 'No one chooses to get sick or injured. No one plans for a car accident, a cancer diagnosis or an unexpected hospital stay, and yet, for too many Ohioans, this is exactly how medical debt begins across our state.' The bill, however, would not eliminate medical debt. 'You're still responsible for the debt, but it won't ruin the rest of your life,' Schmidt said. 'It will give Ohioans added safeguards so they can continue to get wealth and live a life that gives them the opportunity to be healthy, both physically, mentally and economically.' Currently, if a medical bill goes to collections, patients can face an interest rate of 8% or higher, Grim said. 'That's predatory and unfair,' she said. 'It's outrageous that a visit to the ER can tank your credit score for years.' Twenty million Americans owe medical debt and people in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt, according to data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. About 14 million people in the U.S. owe more than $1,000 in medical debt and about three million people owe more than $10,000 in medical debt, according to SIPP's data. About 18% of Americans have medical debt that was turned over to a third party for collection, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in July 2021. 'Medical debt occurs when you least expect it and are unprepared for the unexpected costs associated with it,' Grim said. 'You might have insurance, but there are unintended costs that go outside of insurance.' Rachel Doan's seven-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia back in 2010 and her family faced serious medical bills on top of unexpected expenses like gas, parking and food. Their first medical bill was $125,000. 'You also have no choice over who walks into your child's room,' Doan said. 'They may or may not be in network. If they are not in network, you have no power to negotiate over them.' Fifteen years later, her family is still paying off her son's medical bills. 'There are some bills that I know I went to collections that are on my credit report, not for lack of me making monthly medical payments,' Doan said. 'There's only so much money I can make and keep my family together.' Today, her son is a 22-year-old Ohio University senior, but he has long-term side effects from the treatments he received as a child. 'There are times when things come up and he will call me worried, and he will not want to go seek medical attention because he's worried about the financial cost,' Doan said. 'I am scared to death that he will not seek medical treatment when he needs it because he is worried about the financial burden to himself.' Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
