Healthcare

When their second child wasn’t hitting her normal developmental milestones and avoided using her right hand at all costs, Natasha and her husband became concerned. After several months of doctor’s appointments and evaluations, at 18 months old, their daughter was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy resulting from a stroke in utero that went undetected. Her family knows they are lucky to have & afford good health insurance and live in the shadow of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a premier pediatric healthcare facility so their daughter can get all the assessments and therapies that she needs to address her challenges and live the life of a typical child.

But Natasha knows it shouldn’t be about luck. Luck should not determine whether a family can get care in an emergency or if a child with disabilities can access the support they need to live and thrive. 

Ohio must continue to fully fund Medicaid, invest in ways to make healthcare more affordable for everyone, and the billion-dollar insurance industry to account including banning the practice of AI denials of coverage. To compensate for Washington Republicans abandoning small communities, the Ohio state government must also provide direct support to rural hospitals. It doesn’t matter that you can afford healthcare if the healthcare facilities you need are not reasonably accessible.