MHIA is Here for You: Request a Mental Health Insurance Speaker or Educational Event

Do you have a group or event that could benefit from clear, unbiased information about mental health insurance benefits in a health plan? Understanding mental health coverage is often the first step in helping people access the care and ongoing support they need.

The Ohio Mental Health Insurance Assistance Office (MHIA), the state’s official mental health insurance resources, is here to help. Through its speaker’s bureau and educational engagement efforts, MHIA offers free expert-led presentations and training sessions tailored in simplistic terms to the needs of individuals, families, behavioral health specialists and other healthcare providers, employers, advocates, and community organizations to explain mental health insurance benefits and how to access care.

Whether it is an employee event, webinar, community health fair, professional training, and more, MHIA, which is part of the Ohio Department of Insurance, can provide valuable insights about mental health insurance benefits. Visit insurance.ohio.gov/getmhia to request a speaker and/or an event and to access mental health insurance information.

Reach out to MHIA at 855-GET-MHIA (855-438-6442) and [email protected] with any questions!

This information was provided by the Ohio Department of Insurance’s Ohio Mental Health Insurance Assistance Office.

The White House Wants to Avoid Medicaid Cuts. To GOP Hard-Liners, They’re Essential.

The fate of Republicans’ sweeping domestic policy bill is snagged on a crucial question: Are deep cuts to Medicaid, the federal health care program covering nearly 80 million Americans, something to be avoided? Or are they the whole point of pursuing the legislation?

That clash — with the White House on one side and GOP hard-liners in Congress on the other — is now playing out in closed-door meetings and in the hallways of Capitol Hill as the party rushes to write the megabill and potentially cut more than a half-trillion dollars from the safety-net health program over the coming decade.

Government Watchdog Expects Medicaid Work Requirement Analysis by Fall

The country’s top nonpartisan government watchdog has confirmed it is examining the costs of running the nation’s only active Medicaid work requirement program, as Republican state and federal lawmakers consider similar requirements.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office told KFF Health News that its analysis of the Georgia Pathways to Coverage program could be released this fall. The idea of a nationwide mandate that requires Medicaid enrollees to either work, study, or complete other qualifying activities to maintain coverage is gaining traction as congressional Republicans weigh proposals to cut $880 billion from the federal deficit over 10 years.

Ohio Senate Votes to Confine Intoxicating Hemp to Dispensaries, Make Sales 21+

A bill banning intoxicating hemp products from being sold in gas stations, convenience stores or anywhere else outside of a licensed dispensary passed the Ohio Senate 33-0 this week.

The bill, Senate Bill 86, now heads to the Ohio House for further consideration. It’s the latest in a growing line of otherwise stalled attempts to regulate intoxicating hemp in Ohio.

Such products are often sold in gas stations, convenience stores or CBD stores, and have frequently been targeted by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and other opponents for their potential appeal to children through colorful packaging and subliminal branding.

Under S.B. 86, those products could only be sold by licensed cannabis dispensaries, with a 10% tax that matches the tax Ohio currently has on recreational marijuana.