72nd House District Committees

Parts of Clark County Finance & Appropriations

Including Springfield, Bethel and Transportation & Justice
Mad River Townships Subcommittee
Ranking Member
Columbus Office Environment & Brownfield
Vern Riffe Center For Development
Government & the Arts Insurance
Eleventh Floor Healthcare Access & Affordability
Columbus, Ohio 43215-6111 State Representative Ross W. McGregor Joint Committee on
Agency Rule Review
(614) 466-2038 or (800) 282-0253
(614) 719-3972 (Fax) Ohio House of Representatives
District72@ohr.state.oh.us
January 7, 2010
The Honorable Richard Cordray
Attorney General, State of Ohio
30 East Broad Street, 17th Floor
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Attorney General Cordray:

I am writing to you today to urge you to join 10 other state attorney generals in calling for the
removal of an unethical provision in the national health care reform bill. This provision exempts
the state of Nebraska from having to pay for any newly eligible Medicaid recipients ad
infinitum, while other states would have to pay for Nebraska’s new enrollees.

Ohio is struggling right now! We will face a $6 billion budget deficit next year and our
Medicaid expenditures continue to grow each year. In FY 2009, the state appropriated nearly
$12 billion for Medicaid alone, and by the end of FY 2011, the state is estimated to expend
nearly $14 billion. This constitutes nearly 25 percent of the state budget, and with the proposed
Medicaid expansion contained in the Senate health care bill, states will see an additional cost of
$25 billion in just the first decade of the new plan.

Now, factor in the added costs of the 49 other states having to support not only their own
citizens’ Medicaid costs, but also the costs of the citizens of Nebraska as well. It is clear that this
scheme is constitutionally questionable and one that our state cannot afford.

As Attorney General of the State of Ohio, it is your responsibility to protect the citizens of this
state from malfeasance, be it from individuals, organizations, or the federal government. It is
unethical for the United States Congress to appropriate sweetheart deals for some states simply
out of political expediency. Already, we have seen votes bought for health care reform in
Louisiana and Nebraska, and it is anyone’s guess what is still to come as lawmakers attempt to
finalize this economically damaging legislation.

Nebraska’s exemption is contemptible and is equivalent to a $100 million payoff to one senator
in order to secure his support for the passage of this bill. Regardless of your political affiliation
or stance on the current health care reforms, I believe that we all should be outraged at the
blatant buying of votes in the United States Congress.
As you are aware, I am not an overly partisan individual. As an elected member of the
Legislature I have made my share of difficult votes, but never with the understanding of quid
pro quo. I trust that you, a former legislator yourself, are as disturbed as I am at this outrageous
display of immoral behavior in the crafting of federal legislation, particularly in a bill that has
deep ramifications for Ohio. In any legislative process the word “compromise” cannot be
replaced with “payoff,” but that is exactly what has transpired on Capitol Hill.

As our Attorney General, please make it clear that you are opposed to this action and join with
other states in challenging the legality of such a provision in federal legislation.

With regards,

Ross W. McGregor
State Representative
72nd House District Ohio House of Representatives