Over 770,000 People in Ohio Could Lose Medicaid Under New Budget

Roughly 770,000 people are at risk of losing Medicaid under a new state budget proposed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. Newsweek spoke to an expert about how the cuts could affect those in Ohio.

The new budget outlines language that could end the Medicaid expansion within the state, leading thousands to lose their health insurance coverage.

Why It Matters

Millions of Americans have been removed from Medicaid after the federal government stopped offering continuous coverage post-pandemic. Many of those who have lost insurance missed form deadlines or had an incorrect address, while others no longer met the eligibility criteria.

What To Know

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's new budget added a clause that would "immediately discontinue all medical assistance" for those benefiting from the Medicaid expansion if the federal government pays less than 90 percent of what it currently spends for the group.

Congress is currently considering cutting the federal match for Medicaid expansion. If this happens, the Ohio budget would effectively trigger a loss in Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands.

The state budget has not been passed, however, and is still in negotiations. The final budget is likely to be approved with many adjustments by the end of June.

Newsweek reached out to DeWine's office for comment.

DeWine has also called to add work requirements for those benefiting from the Medicaid expansion. If those are approved, roughly 60,000 Ohioans could lose coverage.

Ohio originally expanded its Medicaid eligibility in 2014 under Republican Governor John Kasich. Before that, people without children generally did not qualify unless they were pregnant or disabled.

Under the expansion, households qualify if they make less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level. That translates to $44,367 a year for a family of four.

While 770,000 Ohio residents get coverage through the Medicaid expansion, around 3 million Ohioans receive Medicaid altogether.

In 2026, Medicaid is projected to cost $48.1 billion, and the Ohio state government plans to pay just $14.7 billion of that, with the federal government responsible for the rest.

What People Are Saying

A spokesperson for Ohio's Medicaid office told Newsweek: "Medicaid Expansion was originally designed to be largely a federally funded program to reduce the cost burden on states. When the program launched in 2014, the federal match was set at 100% and then followed a reduction schedule until reaching 90% in 2020, where it has remained ever since...

The spokesperson added: "Under current law, any change to the federal match percentage would compel the state to backfill the remaining cost out of state general revenue funds to continue the program. This could put state taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. The proposed language in HB 96 is specifically designed to safeguard the state general revenue fund and to protect Ohio's discretion to determine how to proceed if the federal match percentage were ever to change in the future. Moving forward with disenrolling the expansion population from Medicaid following a reduction in Federal funding would require approval by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid of an amendment to Ohio's Medicaid State Plan."

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: "'Trigger laws" are nothing new, but with there now being a stronger possibility of actual cuts to Medicaid, those decisions are going to gain more attention. If this proposal were to pass and the federal government were to make cuts that pay less than the 90 percent of funding it currently provides, Ohio would no longer pay for an expansion of those services in the state. The fear, obviously, is the many who qualify for Medicaid in Ohio would suddenly lose a vital program."

What Happens Next

If the budget is approved, Ohio would join nine other states with similar Medicaid trigger language. That includes Arkansas, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"While ordinarily I would expect there to be more blowback on a measure such as this, you also have to remember many states are struggling to manage their own budgets, and concern of the federal government pulling the plug on Medicaid funding could lead not just Ohio but many other states to reconsider their approach to funding the program regardless of how beneficial it is," Beene said.

Update 02/18/25 7:12 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from a spokesperson from Ohio's Medicaid office.