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.
Federal Court Blocks Kennedy’s Vaccine Changes, Invalidates Vaccine Advisory Panel
Source: The Hill
On March 16, A federal judge blocked Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to vaccine policy, including the reduction of the recommended childhood immunizations and his remaking of a key vaccine advisory panel.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy, a former President Joe Biden appointee, granted a motion by the American Academy of Pediatrics for a preliminary injunction against the reduced childhood immunization schedule earlier this year, along with the remaking of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , invalidating all votes made by the committee since the Federal Advisory Committee Act. He also found that the CDC bypassing the ACIP when changing the childhood immunization schedule was both a “technical, procedural failure” and “an abandonment of the technical knowledge and expertise embodied by that committee.”
“The Court concludes that, in addition to being contrary to law, the issuance of the January 2026 Memo was arbitrary and capricious because it abandoned the agency’s longstanding practice of getting recommendations from the ACIP before changing the immunization schedules without sufficient explanation,” Judge Murphy wrote in his ruling, referring to the CDC’s announcement at the start of the year altering the childhood and adolescent immunization schedule.
Read the full article in The Hill.
Ohio Bill Would Help Curb Medical Debt Bankruptcies
Source: Fox 8
A recent Gallup survey showed that roughly a third of American adults are cutting back on basic living expenses to pay medical bills.
Some lawmakers at the Ohio Statehouse are looking to tackle that problem with House Bill (HB) 257, also called the Medical Debt Fairness Act.
Proposed by state Representative Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland, OH) and Michele Grim (D-Toledo, OH), HB 257 would cap the annual interest rate on medical debt at 3%, prevent medical debt from appearing on a patient’s credit score, and make it harder for debt collection agencies to garnish the wages of patients who fail to pay.
“At the end of the day, you are responsible for the debt, but what we don’t want to do is cause you to be bankrupt in the process of paying off that debt,” Rep. Schmidt said.
The bill has earned the support of dozens of members of both parties, but Representative Anita Somani (D-Dublin, OH), the top Democrat on the House Health Committee, worries the bill will be watered down to appease opponents in the debt collection industry. Earlier this month, lawmakers added an amendment removing the bill’s blanket prohibition on garnishing wages, instead allowing garnishment of up to 10% of a debtor’s wages if a debtor fails to make a payment for 120 consecutive days.
Read the full article on Fox 8.