ICYMI: Jon Husted’s Toxic Agenda Spikes Costs and Rips Away Health Care Across Ohio

ICYMI: Jon Husted's Toxic Agenda Spikes Costs and Rips Away Health Care Across Ohio

September 23, 2025

"The number of older adults struggling in the community is only expected to grow following looming changes to Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP"

Columbus, Ohio- In case you missed it, Ohio seniors and working families are being squeezed by "substantial increase[s] in [their] bills" and "little to no access to primary, specialty, or emergency care" driven by Senator Husted's agenda.

Husted sold out Ohio families by voting to gut health care and spike costs to give a tax cut to billionaires.

See for yourself:

Cleveland.com: Rising costs squeeze Cuyahoga County seniors, driving record demand for help

• Faced with a prolonged spike in inflation, record numbers of older adults in Cuyahoga County are flooding the county's senior support hotline in search of help meeting their basic needs.

• The Division of Senior and Adult Services (DSAS) fielded nearly 28,000 calls last year from residents over 60 needing help with essentials like food, rent, and utilities - the highest volume since its Connection Center opened in 2015.

• And with more than 14,000 calls already logged in the first half of this year, the demand shows no signs of slowing.

• "People are financially strained and they're looking for resources," Natasha Pietrocola, DSAS administrator, told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer during a recent interview. "I've noticed a substantial increase in my bills, so if I'm feeling that as somebody that's still working and able to earn a living, imagine what an older adult or disabled adult on a fixed income is feeling."

• The number of older adults struggling in the community is only expected to grow following looming changes to Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP.

• Currently, about 1 in 5 seniors in Cuyahoga County rely on Medicaid to help cover medical costs, according to county reports.

• Of the 190,000 residents in Cuyahoga County who receive SNAP benefits, roughly 14% are seniors 65 and older, the county said.

• With nearly 30% of county residents projected to be over the age of 60 by 2030, Pietrocola believes the situation is reaching a tipping point and demands action.

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio's rural and safety-net hospitals will lose big under new Medicaid rules, analysis says

• An analysis released Thursday said [the GOP spending plan] will put a big dent in Ohio hospital revenues while increasing the cost of caring for newly uninsured patients.

• The analysis, by the Commonwealth Fund, said that across the country, rural hospitals and those that care for a large share of the poor will be hardest hit.

• Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act cuts nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending - including about $33 billion in Ohio - over the next 10 years. It also cuts $230 billion in federal food assistance over the same period.

• At the same time, the law gives $1 trillion in tax cuts to the richest 1%. It also balloons the deficit by $3.4 trillion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

• The Commonwealth Fund report said that under the new Medicaid work requirements, rural hospitals' operating margins will decline by 28.8% to 32.8%.

• In addition, the state's safety-net hospitals will lose between 7.4% and 8.4% in Medicaid revenue under the law, the report said.

• The Commonwealth Fund report estimates that the great majority of those who lose Medicaid coverage will become uninsured.

• Emergency rooms are required by law to treat people, regardless of their ability to pay. So as the number of uninsured patients goes up, so does the cost of uncompensated care hospitals have to provide.

• Rural hospitals in Ohio will see uncompensated-care costs increase between 19.2% and 21.7%, the report said.

• Safety-net hospitals in the state will see a corresponding increase of 16% to 18.1%, it said.

• The organization representing Ohio emergency doctors has warned that the losses in revenue and increased costs will affect all patients.

• Hospitals will have to make cuts elsewhere, resulting in longer wait times, increased prices and decreased services, it said.

• "The combined effects of Medicaid work requirements on safety net hospitals and community health centers could leave communities with little to no access to primary, specialty, or emergency care, significantly increasing travel times for routine and emergency health needs."

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