COLUMBUS — A proposal to require working poor Ohio adults to pay more toward their government-funded health care is a Republican effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said Monday.

The Democratic senator from Ohio praised Gov. John Kasich for bucking fellow Republicans to expand Medicaid.

Mr. Brown also urged the federal government to reject the request to waive rules so the state may charge premiums from as many as 1.4 million nondisabled, nonelderly people on the rolls.

“It’s bad enough to be mean to low-income people. But then to put a name on it like the ‘Healthy Ohio Program’ just strains the imagination,” Mr. Brown said. 

“The Healthy Ohio Program would actually make it harder for Ohioans to get care. ... That’s probably its intent.” 

The plan is broader than what Mr. Kasich originally proposed. 

The legislative plan calls for these Medicaid enrollees to contribute up to 2 percent of their annual adjusted income, capped at $99 a year, or $8.25 per month, into a health savings account. Medicaid would then add $1,000 to each account.

The accounts would essentially act as a deductible before Medicaid payments for health services would kick in.

Failure to pay two monthly premiums could boot a recipient from the program. The past-due amount would have to be satisfied before coverage could resume.

The federal government has yet to approve any state’s waiver request that could result in someone being removed from the Medicaid rolls for failure to pay.

Legislative supporters of the proposal have argued that the premiums would promote personal responsibility. 

The state has estimated that the nonelderly rolls, accounting for half the Medicaid population, would decrease by 8.9 percent.

“This is not our proposal,” Ohio Department of Medicaid spokesman Sam Rossi said. 

“We are required by law to do this,” he said. “Our original proposal was to implement premiums on a small population of Medicaid, between 120,000 to 130,000 folks, just those above 100 percent [of the federal poverty level].”

Under the governor’s original proposal to lawmakers, those 120,000 to 130,000 people would have paid a monthly $20 premium.

One in four Ohioans are currently enrolled in Medicaid, in part because of the addition of 600,000 people under the expansion that Mr. Kasich championed. 

While the program has grown faster than projected, the federal government, through the Affordable Care Act, has picked up the full tab so far.

The state will begin paying 5 percent of the tab beginning next year.

Mr. Brown urged Ohioans to speak out against the plan during the current public comment period through May 16 by writing to Healthy Ohio Program, 1115 Demonstration Waiver, Bureau of Health Plan Policy, Ohio Department of Medicaid, 50 W. Town St., Columbus, OH, 43218.

Becky Barger-Armato, of Columbus, who is a low-income person, and her husband, who suffered a stroke but is now working full time, could not qualify for the government health insurance of last resort until the eligibility expansion occurred.

“It would still be very hard for us to pay a monthly fee for insurance,” she said. “Last week alone we had $6 to our names, so it would be very hard if we had to pay that.”

While Mr. Kasich remains opposed to the federal health-care law in general, he circumvented fellow Republicans in the legislature in 2014 to partner with the law. His action expanded Medicaid eligibility to those earning as much as 38 percent over the federal poverty level.

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

First Published April 26, 2016, 4:09 a.m.