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.
Request for Physician Feedback
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) is seeking comments and feedback on proposed administrative rule, Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 4123-6-37.1, Payment of hospital inpatient services. This rule would govern how hospitals are reimbursed for inpatient services under workers’ comp claims.
You can review the rule here.
Send comments to BWC ProviderFeedBack@bwc.ohio.gov. Please include your name, phone number, email address, and practice/specialty, if applicable. All comments must be submitted by Tuesday, August 11.
As Affordable Care Act Enrollment Declines, Rural Ohioans are Being Hit Hard
Source: WOSU Public Media
Since enhanced federal subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans expired in January 2026, Ohio has seen the nation’s steepest decline in Marketplace enrollment.
The Buckeye State’s ACA enrollment fell more than 32% between February 2025 and February 2026, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.
Rural residents in states that participate in ACA Marketplace, including Ohio, are losing health insurance coverage at higher rates than their urban and suburban counterparts, according to a Daily Yonder analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Read the full article in WOSU Public Media.
Ohio Will Soon Get New Medicaid Work Requirements. Here’s What We Know and Don’t Know
Source: Signal Akron
Health advocates, hospital systems, and Ohio residents on Medicaid are all bracing for one thing in the coming months: new work requirements for people getting government-sponsored health insurance.
The Medicaid program, which insures about a quarter of residents across Ohio and 27% of Summit County residents, has never before required recipients to work.
But that will soon change as a result of a bill President Donald Trump signed into law last year, which also expanded work requirements for people in the SNAP program, or government food assistance.
Since the law passed, the federal government has begun rolling out more specifics. But a number of questions are still unanswered, even though the deadline to implement the new work requirements is January.
“We don’t have certainty on a lot of these things, and we’re getting so close to when people are actually going to need to engage in the process,” said Tara Britton, the director of public policy and advocacy at the Cleveland-based Center for Community Solutions.
Read the full article in Signal Akron.