The fate of health care reform was unknown throughout the election, with Republican challenger Mitt Romney vowing to repeal it if elected.
Co-chair of Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage, Cathy Levine, says now the 1-point-five million Ohioans who live without health coverage can breathe a sigh of relief.
Levine says work must begin to implement the law at the state and federal levels.
To start, she says Ohio needs to expand Medicaid eligibility and establish a marketplace where residents can buy coverage using tax credits that makes insurance more affordable.
Levine says the law means people cannot be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, and she says increased access to preventive care with no co-pays or deductibles will lower health costs by detecting conditions early.
She says millions of Ohioans are already benefiting from the law, and hundreds of thousands more will have affordable coverage when the law is fully implemented in 2014.
