Hundreds submit comments opposing Ohio’s proposed Medicaid work requirements

More than 400 people submitted comments opposing Ohio’s proposed Medicaid work requirements, according to records obtained by the Ohio Capital Journal. 

The Ohio Department of Medicaid received more than 450 comments on the proposed Medicaid work requirements. About 5% of the comments supported the requirements and a handful of people said they neither support or oppose the requirements, but would need more information to take a stance. 

“I am disabled and unable to work,” one person said in their submitted comments. “I have major mental health issues and physical issues. Without insurance you are signing my death warrant.”

The proposed Medicaid work requirements mean more than 61,000 Ohioans could lose their health insurance according to estimates from the Ohio Department of Medicaid, if the Trump administration allows Ohio Republican state leaders to go through with their plan. 

Ohio’s 2023 budget requires the state Medicaid department to re-apply with the federal government under the new presidential administration for permission to impose work, drug testing, and/or education requirements for adult Medicaid health coverage recipients.

A goal of this requirement is “promoting economic stability and financial independence,” according to the Ohio Department of Medicaid. 

“These changes are not only contradictory to the waiver’s stated goals, but cruel and insulting to the people who will be affected by them,” one person said in their submitted comments. “At best, this will make poor and disabled people poorer, and at worst it will kill people who no longer have access to life saving and preventative medical care.”

The state underwent a comment period where people could send their comments on the proposed Medicaid work requirements to ODM by Jan. 21. 

The next step in the process is to send a 10-day advance notice to the Senate President and Speaker of the House. Then the Ohio Department of Medicaid will send it to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Stephanie O’Grady, ODM spokesperson. The 10-day notice has not yet been sent, she said. 

About a fourth of those who submitted comments opposing the work requirements either used a template letter from Policy Matters Ohio or used a variation of the template that prompted them to share their own stories and asked questions such as how the department will determine who is working and who isn’t; how people experiencing homelessness or domestic violence would be impacted; whether searching for a job counts as working; and, who will decide who is sick enough to work and who isn’t.

Several organizations submitted comments including, but not limited to, the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus, the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio, the Ohio Children’s Alliance, the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, the Ability Center, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Ohio Poverty Law Center, the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, and the American Lung Association.

State Rep. Tristan Rader, D-Lakewood, also submitted comments opposing the work requirements. 

“More bureaucracy in order to access healthcare is not the answer,” he said in his comments.

Several health care professionals and counselors who work with Medicaid patients submitted comments expressing their opposition. 

“As an Ohio State University healthcare provider …I do not advise ill people to go look for work,” one commentator said. “I advise them to do the diagnostic evaluations, get treated, get well, then go look for work. … Limiting earlier access to health care by creating barriers to health care is not smart.” 

A registered nurse case manager said they have seen multiple patients who are diagnosed with cancer that are unable to work, which makes them worried the work requirements won’t benefit their patients.  

“These patients and Medicaid recipients require medications that are lifesaving,” the commenter said. “They also are not always able to work for multiple reasons – they are too ill to work, they are severely immunocompromised.”

Many people submitted comments saying Medicaid should not be harder to get. 

“At its core, health care is a human right,” one commenter wrote. “Access to health care is a fundamental right. However, work requirements treat health care as a privilege tied to productivity, which is an inherently flawed perspective.”

Lots of people submitted comments sharing their personal experiences with Medicaid or a loved one’s experience with Medicaid. 

Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky.