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Ohio House proposal would require random drug tests for Medicaid eligibility

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill that would subject Ohio Medicaid recipients to random drug tests in order to receive benefits from the state-subsidized health program.

Adult Medicaid beneficiaries who receive a second positive test for drugs or “an alcohol problem” would be terminated from Medicaid for six months under provisions of House Bill 440, which was introduced by Rep. Troy Balderson of Zanesville. Medicaid eligibility would also be terminated for six months for people who don’t cooperate with testing requirements or fail to complete treatment programs.

Balderson didn’t return two calls.

Gary Daniels, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, doesn’t see Balderson’s legislation going anywhere. “I have a hard time taking it seriously as an actual proposal,” he said.

Daniels called the proposed law unconstitutional. He cited a case from about a decade ago, Marchwinski v. Howard, in which a Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a previous ruling that struck down a Michigan law that tied public assistance to drug testing.

Daniels said the approach Balderson calls for has been proposed many times in the past by states but is too ”costly and ineffective” to work. He noted that the bill doesn’t mention how the state would pay for the drug-testing program. He speculated that Balderson introduced the bill to appear “tough on crime.”

Medicaid is a state and federally funded health program that provides care to “low-income” and “medically vulnerable” people, according to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. An ODJFS spokesman declined comment on the proposal, saying that the department is “still in the process of reviewing” the legislation.