Ohio Removes Over 600,000 People From Health Care Plan
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Hundreds of thousands of Americans in Ohio have been rolled off a health care plan in the space of roughly two years, data from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research and news organization, has shown.
Around 600,000 Ohioans were disenrolled from the state's Medicaid program as part of the unwinding process happening nationwide after Medicaid coverage was expanded during the COVID pandemic.
Newsweek has contacted the Ohio Department of Health via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The unwinding process has resulted in significant drops in Medicaid enrollment across the U.S. in recent years. Rates of decline in enrollment vary widely between states, with millions removed from the Medicaid program over two years in highly populated states, while other states have seen smaller, but still notable, decreases.
Experts and policymakers both have warned how the growing number of Americans without health insurance will not only grow following the passage of President Donald Trump's budget bill, which will bring about major changes to the Medicaid program, but also how high uninsured rates will impact health outcomes and medical costs.
File photo: three surgeons stand in an operating room with one making notes.
File photo: three surgeons stand in an operating room with one making notes.What To Know
In Ohio, there were 3,421,792 covered by Medicaid in March 2023, but by April 2025, that number was 2,802,277, KFF data shows.
However, while this marked a drop of just over 600,000 Medicaid recipients, the enrollment levels had not returned back to prepandemic levels in April 2025, as they were still 8 percent higher than levels in February 2020—when there were 2,596,917 enrolled on the state's Medicaid program.
These drops in Medicaid enrollment have been happening across the country after the COVID pandemic, when some states expanded the federal program under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Federal rules forced states to keep recipients of the program enrolled, regardless of changes to eligibility, until March 2023.
That month, states were then allowed to start an "unwinding process," where those no longer eligible for the program were disenrolled.
However, concerns have been raised about the process with which recipients were pushed off the program in various states, with some experts saying that many individuals who were still eligible for the program were removed from it due to the administrative burden of proving eligibility.
While some of those disenrolled from the Medicaid program in Ohio may have had access to other forms of health insurance, such as through employment, many may have been left uninsured.
As Trump's budget bill will make significant cuts to the Medicaid program, as well as bringing in new work requirements among other changes, there is increasing concern about America's most vulnerable not having access to affordable health care - particularly in rural areas where many hospitals are also at risk of closure.
What People Are Saying
Bruce D. Meyer, a professor in the Harris School of Public Policy and the College at the University of Chicago, told Newsweek: "There will be financial difficulties for hospitals and clinics as uncompensated care increases. Based on the best research, financial hardship of low-income individuals will rise, as will their depression and other mental illnesses. Most starkly, mortality of adults is likely to rise in the states with large cutbacks in Medicaid coverage."
What Happens Next
As the unwinding continues, more reductions in enrollment are expected across the country, elevating concerns about how the rates of uninsured Americans could impact health outcomes.
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Chicago Tribune
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