Health overhaul could mean more CareSource jobs

DAYTON — CareSource anticipates the potential long-term addition of hundreds of thousands of new members and hundreds of new jobs at its Dayton headquarters as part of a health care overhaul set to be signed Tuesday, March 23, by President Barack Obama.

Already Ohio’s largest Medicaid HMO, CareSource could potentially enroll roughly 220,000 more Ohioans beginning in 2014 as part of an expansion of Medicaid outlined in the legislation, said Pamela B. Morris, CareSource’s president and chief executive officer. That figure assumes CareSource enrolls the newly eligible at a rate consistent with its current market share of more than 50 percent.

“It has the potential to create vital new jobs for the Dayton community,” Morris said.

CareSource’s estimates are based on data from the Urban Institute, officials said.

Medicaid, the state-administered health program for the poor, provides adult coverage only to parents whose household income is below 90 percent of the federal poverty level. Childless adults who are not disabled are not eligible at all, regardless of income.

That would change under health care legislation approved this week, which would extend eligibility to all adults — childless or not — making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or $29,327 for a family of four.

The legislation is driving efforts to develop a new three-year strategic plan at CareSource, which currently has 820,000 members in Ohio and Michigan and had 2009 revenues of $2.3 billion. As part of that future course, CareSource hopes to grow beyond its traditional base of Medicaid and a few Medicare members to serve other individuals through new state-run health insurance exchanges.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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