The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) advocacy team monitors healthcare related legislation, rule changes, and legislative updates for Ohio’s family physicians.
To access the OAFP Bill Tracker, visit the OAFP Public Policy webpage and click on the Bill Tracker icon.
Read on for this week’s updates and contact Advocacy Coordinator Kaela Springhetti with questions or for ways to get involved.
Ohio House Adopts Resolution on Medicaid Work Requirements
Source: Hannah News
A resolution urging President Donald Trump to support the Ohio Department of Medicaid’s request to impose work requirements on certain Medicaid recipients received the most debate on the House floor.
The Ohio House adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 5 by a vote of 57-31 on a party-line vote.
Representative Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester, OH) said the policy is about fairness, and ensuring that those who legitimately need Medicaid are able to receive it.
Similarly, Representative Josh Williams (R-Oregon, OH) said the policy will help people out of poverty, noting he personally benefitted from Medicaid, but “didn’t just sit around” and continue to receive benefits. He said he received vocational training and got back into the workforce, and is hoping this policy will help others do the same. He also emphasized that the policy would only require a person to work, go to school, or get some type of vocational training for 20 hours a week.
Representative Derrick Hall (D-Akron, OH) said he isn’t necessarily opposed to work requirements, but he is opposed to the specific work requirements proposed by the Ohio Department of Medicaid. He said there are “holes” in the proposal, saying state officials didn’t account for people with certain physical and mental conditions or those who lack transportation. The policy also doesn’t account for caregivers, he said. Rep. Hall said the policy will ultimately result in fewer people having health insurance, which will increase costs for everyone, without having a meaningful impact on the workforce. Rep. Hall suggested the speaker convene a task force of those who work in the healthcare field, as he does, to figure out a better way to implement work requirements.
U.S. House Medicaid Plan Would Lead to 7.6 million More Uninsured, CBO Estimates
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
The Medicaid portion of the U.S. House GOP’s massive domestic policy bill would result in 10.3 million people losing Medicaid coverage by 2034 and 7.6 million people going uninsured, according to a partial Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate (Source: CBO: GOP Medicaid plan would make 7.6 million people uninsured, The Hill, May 13, 2025).
The uninsured numbers include 1.4 million people without verified citizenship who would be removed from the program and 4.8 million people who would lose coverage because of work requirements, the committee said.
All told, the Medicaid portions of the GOP proposal would save $625 billion over a 10-year period. The panel is tasked with finding at least $880 billion in savings, and the CBO said they were on track to exceed that amount.
The biggest savings in the bill would come from the federal work requirements, which would account for about $301 billion over seven years. The provision would require childless adults aged 19-64 years old to prove they work, go to school, or volunteer for 80 hours a month.
Experts say most Medicaid beneficiaries are working, and work requirements force enrollees to complete burdensome paperwork requirements. According to a CBO analysis of a 2023 Republican bill, work requirements had no impact on the employment status or hours worked by Medicaid recipients.