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.
July Issue of AAFP’s Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has released its July issue of Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds, a monthly tip sheet to educate, engage, and update you on the latest policy issues affecting family physicians and their patients.
- AAFP Reacts to 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule
- CMS Final Rule Brings Changes to ACA Marketplace Enrollment and Coverage
- AAFP and 100+ Health Organizations Urge Protection of USPSTF
- 300+ Family Physicians Call on Lawmakers to Support Family Medicine
- AAFP Disappointed Over Passage of H.R. 1
- AAFP Submits Feedback on NIH’s Proposed AI Strategy.
With Maternity Wards Already Dwindling, Ohio Rural Hospitals Brace for Trump Medicaid Cuts
Source: Ohio Capital Journal
Rural hospitals in Ohio are looking down the barrel of significant losses when it comes to the federal budget reconciliation bill and its changes to Medicaid funding. On top of that general concern, the few hospitals in those areas that are still able to provide maternity care may see further challenges.
The more than $1 trillion in federal Medicaid cuts approved by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” included adding work requirements to Medicaid eligibility, something the state had in its newest operating budget as well. The federal budget also included provisions regarding provider taxes, which states use to fund Medicaid agencies.
In a letter to President Trump and congressional leaders in June, four Democratic U.S. Senators pushed back against the reconciliation package, particularly the provisions impacting rural health.
“Rural hospitals are often the largest employers in rural communities, and when a rural hospital closes or scales back its services, communities are not only forced to grapple with losing access to healthcare, but also with job loss and the resulting financial insecurity,” stated the letter, signed by U.S. Senators Edward Markey, Ron Wyden, Jeffrey Merkley, and Chuck Schumer.
The letter included a list of rural hospitals in the country considered at risk of “financial distress” because of the population of Medicaid patients they served and/or their consecutive years with a negative total profit margin.
Read the full article in the Ohio Capital Journal.
CMS Announces Plan to Freeze State Medicaid Waivers for Continuous Enrollment
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
The recent federal announcement of a freeze on projects that help states use their Medicaid programs to suit the needs of their residents could have an impact on future projects in Ohio (Source: U.S. Medicaid Department Freeze on State Projects Could Impact Ohio Children’s Enrollment, Ohio Capital Journal, July 25, 2025).
A July 17 letter signed by Drew Snyder, a deputy administrator and director for the U.S. Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services, served as a notification to states that the federal agency would be putting potential new pilot programs on hold in an effort to save money.
One such 1115 waiver, developed by Ohio, was set to begin in October. It would allow eligible children to remain continuously enrolled through age three, as opposed to the minimum federal requirement of 12 months continuous eligibility (as of 2024). Its aim is to ensure that children do not lose coverage due to potentially small changes in income or household eligibility. The waiver request was mandated through legislation from the Ohio General Assembly (GA) in the 2023 budget bill (House Bill 33). The GA attempted to eliminate this requirement in the most recent budget, but that provision was vetoed by Governor Mike DeWine.
The goals of this waiver were to make sure that children stayed covered through the early years of life, when access to services such as screenings, vaccines, and treatments are critically important and prevent more intensive healthcare utilization down the road.
“This waiver offered the potential to help alleviate existing gaps in care access for young children in Ohio, which can improve health and prevent illness later in life,” Brian O’Rourke, a healthcare policy analyst at HPIO, told the Capital Journal. “With the recently announced plan by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to deny these waivers, these access issues will likely persist and potentially even grow over time, especially for families with lower incomes.”
Student Loan Caps Might Worsen the National Doctor Shortage, Critics Worry
Source: Ohio Capital Journal
Twenty-eight-year-old Michaela Bonner has been working 12-hour shifts as an emergency medical technician in Norfolk, VA, for the past four years, while attending and paying for college to finish her prerequisites for medical school.
But now that President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending law bars students from borrowing more than $50,000 annually in unsubsidized federal loans for medical school, Michaela is worried her dream of becoming a doctor is financially out of reach.
“I get told, ‘Well, we really need you. We have a physician shortage, and you’ve done all this work leading up to this point,’ and that’s true as well, and it’s not that I want to quit,” Michaela said in a recent interview. “But there are no systems in place that I can rely on to support me now that I can’t take out the full cost of living through loans.”
The tax and spending law includes provisions that significantly alter the student loan process for higher education. The law halts current student loan repayment plans for loans that are granted on or after July 1, 2026. On that date, the law also terminates Grad PLUS loans, which have helped people pay for their higher education degrees and total cost of attendance. Current borrowers will be grandfathered in.
The federal law gives current borrowers enrolled in loan repayment plans for students based on income — such as those plans known as SAVE or IBR — until Saturday, July 1, 2028, to switch to a new plan. Interest collection will resume Friday, August 1, for students enrolled in the Biden-era SAVE plan.
At the same time, medical or law school students hoping to get unsubsidized federal loans — in which the borrower is responsible for paying the interest at all times rather than the government — will only be able to borrow $50,000 per year, with a $200,000 lifetime cap. Those seeking advanced degrees in areas such as history or philosophy have a $100,000 lifetime cap.
Read the full article in the Ohio Capital Journal.