Ohio Governor Bob Taft signed the new budget bill in Ohio today, enacting big tax cuts for businesses, which may or may not be a terrible thing. But he took time out to line item veto a number of items that affect the health of little babies, especially very young, poor premature infants. In particular Mr. Taft vetoed a provision that would require insurance providers who contract with the state to provide Medicaid services to provide prescription drug coverage for respiratory syncytial virus (also known as RSV) for the benefit of Medicaid patients who are born premature or who are pediatric patients otherwise at risk for RSV.
In Ohio, 3 out of the 4 providers provide this drug coverage, but one of the HMOs, presumably the one that lobbied the Governor for this exclusion, does not.
RSV is a killer of young children - - those that contract the disease under 6 months old or who have other chronic problems can be killed by the disease unless there is treatment. Of course, in Ohio, if you are unlucky enough to be born poor, there is a good chance that you won't get the treatment you need. Specifics below:
More information about RSV is here:
http://www.astdhpphe.org/infect/rsv.html
The language that Mr. Taft vetoed is here on page 78 of this .pdf:
http://www.gongwer-oh.com/126/boxedtext.pdf
Mr. Taft's justification for this veto is that the executive agency in charge of this can intervene if needed (i.e. those agencies that are managed by the same people that brought us the Department of Worker's Compensation).
Simple fact is that this was a cost-free program that would have saved lives of Ohio children. But as far as Bob Taft goes, if a poor infant gets sick, that infant can die.