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.
Here’s What Gov. Dewine Vetoed from the Budget
Source: Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has signed the state’s massive operating budget, including dozens of vetoes — axing provisions that would restrict books in libraries, take money away from public school savings, and make significant expansions to the private school voucher system.
At 11:15 p.m. on June 30, Gov. DeWine announced he approved the $60-billion Republican spending bill. At 2:15 a.m., he sent out his 67 line-item vetoes.
These are some of the major items he cut. This list is not exhaustive, but you can find the full veto list here.
Health
He vetoed a provision that would have restricted Medicaid for babies ages 0-3. This would have repealed the requirement for Medicaid to allow parents of children under the age of four to stay enrolled in Medicaid through a federal waiver.
He removed a provision that requires Medicaid to randomly assign a managed care plan for all individuals who do not choose a specific managed care plan.
He cut an item that would have stopped SNAP for “sugar-sweetened beverages.”
Due to a drafting error, he cut a provision that was intended to regulate the practice of pharmacy benefit managers in Ohio and the requirements for fair and transparent reimbursement for Ohio pharmacies.
He cut a provision requiring a hospital with a maternity unit that accepts Medicaid to enter into a transfer agreement with any freestanding birthing center located within a 30-mile radius that requests one.
Education
He cut a provision that would have required public libraries to place books referencing “sexual orientation or gender” in an area away from the public.
Read the full article in the Ohio Capital Journal.
Ohio Republicans Plead with Federal Lawmakers to Protect Funding for Rural Hospitals
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio Republicans are pleading with the U.S. Senate to change budget language that would decimate plans for a state tax program aimed at keeping rural hospitals running.
The Rural Ohio Hospital Tax Pilot Program, a state budget measure, would tax rural hospitals but send those tax dollars to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The taxes would then be reimbursed 3 to 1, sending critical funding to rural hospitals, which often serve older, poorer, and sicker populations than their urban counterparts, as well as higher numbers of Medicaid patients.
In a letter obtained by The Columbus Dispatch addressed to Ohio Senators Bernie Moreno and John Husted, several rural Ohio House Republicans said federal budget language would “effectively torpedo” the program before it could even begin. Republican state Representatives Kevin Ritter, Kevin Miller, Justin Pizzulli, Kellie Deeter, Ty Moore, and Adam Bird signed the letter.
While only Republicans signed the letter, Rep. Ritter (R-Marietta, OH), told The Columbus Dispatch that the pilot program has supporters in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle.
Rural hospitals are also often a community’s largest employer, the letter points out, and their survival is “central to local economies, school enrollment, housing demand, and long term-regional sustainability.”
Ohio Republicans urged the federal government to ensure that “rural Americans are not left behind.” The U.S. Senate is currently discussing President Trump’s spending proposal after the House approved its version.
Read the full article in The Columbus Dispatch.
Supreme Court of the United States Rules Planned Parenthood Can be Cut Off from Medicaid
Source: The Hill
In a ruling made along ideological lines, the Supreme Court ruled recently that Medicaid beneficiaries don’t have the right to sue to obtain care from a provider of their choice, paving the way for South Carolina to block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds.
The law says “any individual” insured through Medicaid “may obtain” care from any qualified and willing provider.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority that Medicaid recipients do not have the right to sue to enforce that provision.
Medicaid is prohibited from paying for almost all abortions, but states want to cut government funding for other services Planned Parenthood provides.
The suit, supported by the Trump administration, was brought by South Carolina.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) praised the ruling, saying, “Seven years ago, we took a stand to protect the sanctity of life and defend South Carolina’s authority and values — and today, we are finally victorious.”
The ruling has implications for other states, at a time when red states across the country are looking for ways to deprive Planned Parenthood of funding. Nationally, the Trump Administration is withholding federal family planning grants from nine Planned Parenthood affiliates.
Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri already block Planned Parenthood from seeing Medicaid patients, and the organization has said it expected many other Republican-led states to do the same if the Supreme Court sided with South Carolina.
“Today, the Supreme Court once again sided with politicians who believe they know better than you, who want to block you from seeing your trusted healthcare provider and making your own healthcare decisions,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.
“And the consequences are not theoretical in South Carolina or other states with hostile legislatures. Patients need access to birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more.”
Roughly 72 million low-income Americans receive health insurance through Medicaid, according to the most recent enrollment numbers.
And more than 1.3 million South Carolinians — or 20% of the state — are enrolled in the program, according to the health policy nonprofit KFF.
“As extremists in every branch of our government are targeting Planned Parenthood and attempting to strip millions of Americans of the care their health centers provide, this is nothing more than a politically-motivated green light to anti-abortion politicians,” Reproductive Freedom Caucus Co-Chairs Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) said in a statement.
Ohio legislators ‘Push Pause’ on Cannabis Reform Legislation
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
Ohio lawmakers will likely go on summer break without making any changes to the state’s cannabis law, a Republican state representative recently states (Source: ‘We are Going to Push Pause’ on Ohio Marijuana Legislation, says Republican Lawmaker, Ohio Capital Journal, June 25, 2025).
For the second week in a row, Ohio Senate Bill 56 was up for a possible vote by the Ohio House Judiciary Committee, but both times the vote did not take place. Once the bill is voted out of committee, it can be brought to the House floor for a vote. The Senate passed the bill in February.
Last week, the bill was removed from the committee agenda and this week the committee meeting — which only had Senate Bill (SB) 56 on the agenda — was canceled.
“We are going to push pause,” state Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville, OH) said when asked about the cannabis bill. “We’re going to take the summer and come back and potentially take another crack at it.”
SB 56 would reduce the THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90% down to a maximum of 70%, limit the number of active dispensaries to 400 and prohibit smoking in most public places. It would keep Ohio’s home grow the same at a limit of six plants per person and 12 plants per residence.
Ohioans passed a citizen-initiated law to legalize recreational marijuana in 2023 with 57% of the vote, and sales started in August 2024. Ohio lawmakers can change the law since it was passed as a citizen initiative, not a constitutional amendment.