Buckeye State House Snubs Taft on Health Mandate Ban
The 52-40 vote came one week after Taft’s call for
a moratorium on all health-care insurance requirements on
Ohio employers in his State of the State address, the
Toledo Blade reported.
“You can use your vote today to stand up for a symbol,
that symbol being that ‘I’ll oppose all mandates,’ or you
can use your vote today to do what you know in your heart
is right, to stand up for those who can least stand up
for themselves,” said the bill’s sponsor, Representative
Lynn Olman.
From here, the bill faces a difficult path in the state
Senate, where President Doug White (R., Manchester) has
pledged to honor Taft’s moratorium request. Opposition in
the House focused largely on the potential cost to
midsize and smaller employers, since most large companies
fall under federal law and would be exempt.
“(Taft) believes that this is a well-intentioned bill,
but in our current economic climate, as we fight for
jobs, it could have the unintended consequence of
employers dropping coverage or employees being asked to
pay for a greater share of their coverage because of the
new costs.” Taft spokesman Orest Holubec said, according
to the Blade.
The parity bill, opposed by business groups such as the
National Federation of Independent Business, would
require all policies over which the state has authority
to cover a handful of major, biologically based mental
illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and
severe depression. The final version of the measure that
got though the House excluded mandated coverage for drug
and alcohol addiction after it became clear there were
not enough votes.