Ohio Democratic candidate for governor Dr. Amy Acton said Tuesday that she’ll bring a whole-of-government approach to dealing with rising health care costs if she’s elected.
She also took Republican frontrunner to task over past comments about health care programs.
Rising costs, declining coverage
The physician and former state health department director said “everywhere I go, people are talking about the cost of everyday life. Ninety five percent of what I’m hearing is not controversial at all.”
Housing, child care, electric bills, and property taxes — Acton has heard voters complain about all of them.
“But the number one thing I am hearing about, and data is now showing this, it’s the rising cost of health care that is really putting people over the edge,” she said.
As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed by President Trump last summer, people looking for health insurance on Affordable Care Act Marketplaces stopped receiving an enhanced subsidy to help cover premiums.
At the end of open enrollment last month, Ohio saw a 20% decline in Marketplace enrollment.
On a percentage basis, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians noted, that was the second biggest decline in the country.
“Think about that for a second,” Acton said. “We know people are just saying I have to go without health care in order to pay my housing costs that are going up, my electric bill, my childcare bill, they’re just going without insurance, and whole families are going without. That is a big concern.”
But Acton acknowledged there’s a limit on what she, or any state leader, can do to bridge the gap.
She brought up Medicaid waivers or tax credits for people caring for loved ones as two examples.
“We’ll be looking at all the different levers a governor can pull,” Acton said, “but it’s going to have to be in partnership with our federal government.”
“There’s so much you can do right now on medical bankruptcy and on prescription drug costs,” Acton’s running mate David Pepper said.
“You can’t solve it all,” he continued, “but trying to make the premiums maybe a little more affordable, so 20% don’t drop off — that’s happening all over. It’s just not happening in Ohio.”
Mistakes were made
Acton and Pepper also called out Ohio Republican governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for calling Medicare and Medicaid a mistake.
During an appearance on the Ezra Klein podcast in October 2024, Ramaswamy argued there are competing visions within the Republican party for what the “America First” agenda actually means.
On the one hand, he said, there are those who want to use government power to protect or advance American economic interests and on the other — the one Ramaswamy aligns with — there are Republicans who see the project as “dismantling the existence of that nanny state in all of its forms.”
In response, Klein asked Ramaswamy point blank if he thought Medicare and Medicaid were mistakes.
“I believe they were, with the benefit of retrospect,” Ramaswamy said. “Particularly Medicaid, particularly the welfare state without work attachments required attached to it.”
More than 3 million Ohioans — roughly a quarter of the state’s population — are enrolled in Medicaid, according to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Within that population, 72% of enrollees are already working.
Two and a half million Ohioans are enrolled in Medicare, which primarily covers the elderly, but there’s some overlap between the two programs.
About 400,000 Ohioans on Medicare receive assistance through Medicaid.
Jan Lanier, a registered nurse from Westerville, spoke about her family’s experience with Medicaid at Acton’s event.
Lanier explained her youngest granddaughter was born premature with severe disabilities.
Lanier’s daughter had a job and insurance but lost both because she had to take care of her child.
“The experience brought all of us into the world of Medicaid, waivers, and wait lists,” Lanier explained.
At 23, her granddaughter still lives with her daughter and they rely on Medicaid to cover the cost of caregivers and medical supplies.
“I do not expect people running for office to be able to understand all the programs and services that come under their purview,” Lanier said.
“I do, however, expect them to listen, and to make a serious effort to learn, before dismissively calling something that is the backbone of Ohio’s health care system a ‘mistake.’”
Ramaswamy’s response
In an emailed statement, Ramaswamy’s campaign spokesperson Connie Luck said Acton’s “far-left approach would drive up health care costs and everyday expenses for all Ohioans, while suppressing take-home pay and economic growth. By contrast, Vivek’s vision for Ohio focuses on real reforms to deliver lower costs and bigger paychecks, not empty promises and government takeovers.”
As for Ramaswamy’s ‘mistake’ comment, Luck accused Acton of cherry-picking soundbites and called the attacks “blatantly dishonest.”
Luck said Medicaid is a “vital program,” but insisted it should work better for recipients and taxpayers.
“Vivek believes Ohioans deserve a Medicaid system that delivers stronger results than what we have seen over the past six decades, including basic work requirements for those who are able,” Luck said. “That position is not extreme, it’s common sense.”
President Trump’s signature domestic policy bill includes national work requirement provisions for Medicaid recipients.
Starting next year enrollees nationwide will have to start reporting their employment status at least every six months.
That change will have a big impact on the bottom line.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates work requirements alone will reduce Medicaid spending by $326 billion over the next decade, but those savings come with a cost.
Analyzing an earlier version of the bill, CBO forecasters suggested the policy would leave 4.8 million Americans without insurance by 2034.
A 2022 CBO report found state-level work requirements cost thousands of workers their coverage, “and they appear to have little effect on employment.”
Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.