Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne Rallies With Healthcare Workers Against Massive Medicaid Cuts

County Executive Chris Ronayne spoke at Willard Park on Tuesday morning, flanked by members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, to address massive cuts coming to Ohio’s Medicaid Expansion program. Nearly half of Cleveland gets medical assistance from the government. Credit: Mark Oprea

Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill is moving along in Congress.

If passed by the House, the massive budget plan would redirect trillions of dollars in government spending to Trump’s border wall, tax cuts for the wealthy, national security and energy production.

All money that would come from gargantuan cuts to social services for tens of millions of people—mostly by tightening up restrictions on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often referred to as food stamps.

The cuts would be dire locally.

Forty-five percent of Cleveland residents rely on Medicaid assistance to help them in some way with their healthcare.

And about around 40% of MetroHealth’s patients are on Medicaid.

“We must remain vigilant to work with our legislators to point out what is right, what is humane,” County Executive Chris Ronayne said at a press conference Tuesday morning near the Free Stamp in Willard Park flanked by members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “And this budget, both at the state level and now pending with the federal government, is none of that.”

Gov. Mike DeWine signed the biannual budget bill earlier this week, and critics say the state’s bill mirrors Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill in all the worst ways.

Nearly 800,000 Ohioans currently on the state’s Medicaid Expansion program may lose coverage due to a trigger provision in the federal bill.

What’s been framed by Senate Republicans as a measure to weed out Medicaid fraud would force future Medicaid applicants to prove they’ve worked at least 80 hours the month before they register or re-register for coverage.

“There’s a stereotype amongst a very small number of folks that these are people that are sitting around eating bon bons, you know, and collecting Medicaid,” State Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan, who voted against the state budget bill, told Scene. “And that is far from the truth. There’s no evidence of that.”

“We’re talking about folks in wheelchairs,” he added. “We’re talking about poor elderly folks. We’re talking about, you know, kids.”

Knocking roughly 100,000 people across Cuyahoga County off consistent, medical coverage would produce a domino effect on the county’s healthcare system.

Roughly 80 percent of patients at MetroHealth are on some kind of Medicaid assistance. Especially, Pam McKenna told press, pregnant mothers. “Without it, there’s no prenatal care,” she said. “No ultrasounds. No safe deliveries. No NICU stays for premature babies. Absolutely nothing.” Credit: Mark Oprea

“Medicaid is the backbone of the care we provide at MetroHealth,” Pam McKenna, a employee of the hospital for the past 25 years, told press at Willard Park. “Most expecting mothers rely on Medicaid. Without it, there’s no prenatal care. No ultrasounds. No safe deliveries. No NICU stays for premature babies. Absolutely nothing.”

Elana Sitnik, a pediatrician in internal medicine, told Scene she was worried that some of her patients on Medicaid may not bother to undergo tests that would be paid for out-of-pocket when their coverage evaporates.

And the effects would continue into the future.

“Syphilis, Hepatitis C, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, HIV—we’re looking at generations of Ohioans affected by their parents not getting access to care,” Sitnik said. “We’re looking at kids with blindness, hearing problems, developmental delays, with services that are getting cut.”

“That’s a lot of patients,” Sitnik added.

Both Ronayne and Brennan urged Clevelanders to call or email their U.S. congressperson as Trump’s bill heads to the House for potential approval this weekend. Ronayne added he’s lobbied the Greater Cleveland Partnership to push the statehouse to repeal the Medicaid work requirement provision but has heard nothing back.

“We’ve got to keep our institutions strong so that they can serve our local residents with the health care they deserve,” Ronayne said.