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.
Planned Parenthood Finalizes Ohio Layoffs After Massive Trump Administration Funding Cuts
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio finalized layoffs the reproductive care provider says it was forced into following sharp federal funding cuts.
A longtime target of Republican lawmakers, the organization estimates it will save over $1 million from 20 staff reductions, though they’re still facing a projected $10 million in revenue loss due to Medicaid defunding from the July reconciliation bill and a loss of Title X funding.
“We are at a critical juncture where we must ensure Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio (PPGOH) can survive and hold strong against the ongoing attacks of the Trump Administration. We did everything we could to avoid layoffs. But the reality is, we’re facing serious financial challenges,” Erica Wilson-Domer, president and chief executive officer of PPGOH, said in a statement.
While the Medicaid defunding has been put on hold by a federal judge, it also faces similar defunding legislation at the state level.
About 43% of the 50,550 patients that PPGOH served in 2024 were on Medicaid. For Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, 41% of patients used Medicaid, according to the organization.
Read the full article in The Columbus Dispatch.
As CDC Vaccine Officials Resign in Protest, Childhood Vaccination Rates are Declining
Source: Ohio Capital Journal
Rana Alissa, MD, FAAP, president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician in Jacksonville, FL, hears it daily in the clinic.
“It’s better for my kid to get the virus than get the vaccine.”
“The more you [doctors] vaccinate, the more money you get.”
“I did not vaccinate any of my kids, and I’m not going to vaccinate this one. So, please, don’t waste your time.”
On average, Dr. Alissa heard vaccine skepticism from a couple of parents a month, at most, before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Now, it’s every day,” she said.
Medical experts say hesitancy is likely to increase further as a result of misinformation pouring from the Trump Administration — and turmoil at the federal agency largely responsible for setting vaccine policy.
On August 28, three top officials were escorted out of the Atlanta headquarters of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
All three officials resigned to protest the effort by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to dismiss CDC Director Susan Monarez for pushing back against Secretary Kennedy’s vaccine policies.
One of the officials, Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, posted on X that he’s resigning because “the intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines” will cause the nation to suffer.
Read the full article in The Ohio Capital Journal.
Marketplace Insurance Rates Expected to Spike in Ohio
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
The approximately 583,000 people in Ohio who buy health insurance from the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace can expect to see their premiums increase substantially in 2026.
The 11 companies that sell health insurance to Ohio individuals on the federal marketplace are proposing a median premium increase of about 18% for 2026 – more than double the jump requested in recent years.
“It’s going to be a shock to some people in 2026 when they see what their premiums are increasing to,” said Brian O’Rourke, a healthcare policy analyst at the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. “And if people drop their coverage, there may not be good options to find elsewhere.”
Since the federal marketplace began in 2014, the federal government has given tax credits as a financial incentive for residents to sign up for insurance on the marketplace. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress and the Biden Administration made those credits more generous and did away with income limits on who could receive them.
Since then, the number of Ohio residents enrolled in health plans through the ACA marketplace has skyrocketed. In 2024, about 480,000 people enrolled – a more than 50% increase from the year before. About 88% of those enrolled received tax credits, according to the health policy organization KFF.
The COVID-19-era tax credits are set to expire at the end of 2025. It is still possible for Congress to decide to prolong the tax credits, but Republicans appear split on whether to do so.
Governor Mike Dewine Calls For State Ban on Kratom
Governor Mike DeWine recently asked the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to designate all natural and synthetic versions of kratom as illegal (Source: Ohio Kratom Ban: Gov. Mike Dewine Wants to Declare it an Illegal Drug, The Columbus Dispatch, August 26, 2025).
If approved, Ohio would be the first state in the country to do so.
Made from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree, kratom is pitched as a treatment for chronic pain, opioid dependence, anxiety, depression, and other disorders. It’s sold online and in stores as powders, gummies, and drinks.
While it has gained popularity in recent years, kratom can be modified into highly addictive synthetic versions that cause psychosis, seizures, hallucinations, and death. Kratom caused more than 200 unintentional overdose deaths in Ohio between 2019 and 2024, according to Ohio Department of Health data.
“These modified kratom products, sold online and in stores, are essentially legal, over-the-counter opiates that anyone – including kids – can buy with just a few bucks,” Gov. DeWine said in a written statement. “There is no accepted medical use for kratom in Ohio, and it is an imminent public health risk. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy should act with urgency to schedule all kratom compounds and future alterations of them as Schedule I illegal drugs.”