A new report shows recent cuts in funding from Ohio’s Medicaid budget will force more than a half a million Ohioans off the program in the next decade and threaten the closure of 31 hospitals and clinics in Ohio.
Rep. Ashley Bryant Bailey (D-Cincinnati) said nearly 200,000 Ohioans have already lost care because of Medicaid cuts, with another 290,000 likely to be removed from Medicaid in the next decade.
“That means real people in our communities are being pushed out of the health care system, and when that happens, everything else starts to break down," Bryant Bailey said.
The report from the group Protect Our Care says 31 hospitals, clinics and providers in Ohio are at risk of closing or are announcing cuts. That will increase stress on emergency rooms, and rural patients will have to travel to get medical care.
“It will lead to patients being sicker, having to access emergency room care," said Rep. Anita Somani (D-Dublin), who is a doctor. "For families that have caregivers, they are less likely to be able to care for their family members adequately because they are struggling to make ends meet. So it will impact everybody on every level.”
Last year, U.S. Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) announced the federal government would award $202 million to help rural hospitals weather Medicaid changes. The Rural Health Transformation Fund was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law by President Trump last July.
Republicans who have pushed the changes say they are working to reduce Medicaid fraud, something Democrats say is not widespread.
