Canton Repository...
Cookie-cutter federal aid programs don’t work  
December 4, 2011 

Gov. John Kasich should keep plugging away at his demand that states get more freedom to manage the federal funds they receive for Medicaid and worker training programs. 

Kasich made the point again during a panel discussion at the annual conference of the Republican Governors Association this week in Orlando, Fla. The Columbus Dispatch quoted him as saying, “We would cover more people at a lower price.” 

Whether all states could make that claim about the bottom line is unlikely. But we know this: Inflexibility on the part of the feds leads to a cookie-cutter approach that simply can’t result in the most efficient, most effective or fairest way of running these programs. 

Just ask the nuns at the House of Loreto. 

It took years of lobbying before the federal government granted the nonprofit nursing home in Canton an exemption from a blatantly unfair state fee. Nearly all other nursing homes in Ohio got something in return for paying the franchise fee — partial reimbursement from the federal Medicaid program. But not House of Loreto, which is one of a handful of homes in Ohio that doesn’t participate in the Medicaid program. 

Until the feds finally woke up to the unfairness of its plight, the home had absolutely nothing to show for its $220,000 annual bill from the state, except the constant worry that it would soon be out of business. 

As for federal job training programs, Ohio employers, state government officials and members of Congress have long complained that the rules are so restrictive, states can’t match their training efforts to the unique needs of their companies. 

We don’t know how much headway Kasich can make in this crusade, but it’s worth his time and that of the other governors to inundate Congress with specific examples, like House of Loreto, that show how wrongheaded the federal one-size-fits-all approach is. 

Read this and other articles at the Canton Repository