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Columbus, Ohio — Senator Husted is taking heat in Ohio for putting health care for 490,000 Ohioans on the chopping block when he supported the GOP tax bill’s Medicaid cuts. 

Now, he is missing in action as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid prepare to roll out a risky new Medicare pilot program that will allow algorithms to approve or deny claims. In new reporting from Cleveland.com, experts are sounding the alarm that the pilot program will increase health care delays and coverage denials.

See for yourself:

Cleveland.com: Your doctor says you need pain treatment, but Medicare’s AI might disagree

• Ohioans on Medicare who rely on steroid injections to manage pain may have to wait longer for treatment next year while an AI program approves or declines care.

• That’s because claims for this and several types of health care will need prior approval when submitted to traditional Medicare — a change from the current policy— under an upcoming pilot program aimed at curbing waste, fraud and abuse.

• Ohio, along with five other states, is part of the pilot program called the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model.

• Physicians and patient rights groups also are critical of the program, predicting it will restrict and delay necessary care for the elderly, and concerned about its use of AI to make prior authorization decisions.

• “It will save money at the cost of the patients,” said Charlotte Rudolph, executive director of Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio, an affordable health care advocacy organization. “Patients on Medicare are some of our most vulnerable Ohioans, and just the thought of them getting wind of this procedure — that’s undue stress that patients don’t even need to hear.”

• Judith Stein, founder of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, agreed.

• “It creates a barrier between what physicians and other healthcare providers order and want as medically necessary for their patients and what can be provided based on algorithms,” Stein said. The Center for Medicare Advocacy works to ensure access to Medicare coverage, health equity, and quality health care for older people.
  
• Critics of the Medicare pilot program point out that the AI companies overseeing the initiative will receive a share of the savings generated by denied claims, giving the companies incentive to deny as many claims as possible.

Cleveland.com: A ‘ big beautiful’ whopper of a lie: Ben Stein

• Legislators who voted for the bill are shouting from the rooftops that they didn’t choose to cut Medicaid, jeopardize rural hospitals and increase the national debt — all to pay for more tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthiest households.

• The story they tell about this “big beautiful bill” is so thin that it insults the intelligence of every Ohioan who hears it.

• The ugly truth is that they have signed off on the largest upward transfer of wealth in American history. To do so, they rolled back decades of progress toward a healthier, more economically stable future.

• If you are among the 1 percent of Ohio taxpayers with annual income over $754,000 — a group for whom the bill cut taxes by an average of $61,000 a year — this bill serves you well.

• In the bill’s decade-long shadow, an estimated 438,000 Ohioans will become uninsured by 2034 because of the megabill and legislators’ choice to allow ACA enhanced premium tax credits to expire.

• The bill will especially harm Ohioans who rely on or work at rural hospitals. 

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Columbus, Ohio – Reporting this week exposes the toll Senator Husted’s support for chaotic trade wars is taking on Ohio farmers, while Husted’s vote to cut Medicaid is threatening school children’s access to free school meals and making dental care less accessible. 

Here’s what Ohioans across the state are reading: 

Statehouse News Bureau: Ohio farmers are feeling the dual pain of uncertain tariffs and unreliable weather

• Agriculture is considered Ohio’s number-one industry. One out of every eight jobs in the Buckeye State is tied to the agriculture industry. As farmers prepare to harvest their crops, many are concerned they’ll take a hefty hit due to tariffs and weather conditions.

• The Senior Director of Communications and Media Relations for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Ty Higgins, said […] tariffs are also impacting farmers, especially those who grow soybeans.

• “China has not bought anything from U.S. farmers this year and it wasn’t long ago that a third of the soybeans we grew here in Ohio went directly to China so there’s a lot of market share that we are missing.”

• Higgins said it is also costing farmers more for the supplies, which are often imported, that they need to produce their crops.

News 5 Cleveland: New SNAP, Medicaid rules could cost many kids free school meals

• Recent changes tightening eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid could leave hundreds of thousands of families without benefits. As a result, the School Nutrition Association warns, many children could lose automatic access to free school meals.

WOUB: Dental care isn’t accessible in much of southeast Ohio. Medicaid cuts could make matters worse.

• […] the southeast region of Ohio is a federally designated dental health professional shortage area, meaning there aren’t enough dentists for the people living there. 

• Now, federal cuts to Medicaid passed in July as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have advocates concerned that those access problems will only get worse. 

• A disproportionate number of patients in Appalachian Ohio rely on Medicaid for their dental care compared to rates statewide. Advocates worry that coverage could be threatened by millions of dollars in federal Medicaid cuts signed into law in July.

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Columbus, Ohio- Amid increased calls to release the Epstein files, new reporting is taking a closer look at Vivek Ramaswamy’s sudden silence after advocating for the release of the files during his presidential campaign. Ramaswamy has refused to return multiple requests for comment.

READ: Analysis: Vivek Ramaswamy goes silent on past demands to release Epstein files, Howard Wilkinson, 09/10/2025

• Two years ago is not a long time, but Vivek Ramaswamy — now the apparent GOP nominee for Ohio governor — doesn’t seem to remember what he was saying about Jeffrey Epstein in 2023.

• He was all over social media and interviews with conservative talk shows proclaiming he was the “first” and “most vocal” public figure to call for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which people assumed included a list of the child sex abuser’s clients whom he would hook up with under-aged girls.

• For months before that, Ramaswamy was beating the drum for releasing the Epstein files, saying at one point that “Jeffrey Epstein didn’t act alone.”

• But since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January and Ramaswamy launched his campaign for governor — with Trump’s endorsement — there’s not been a peep out of Ramaswamy on the matter.

• WVXU’s requests to Ramaswamy’s campaign staff and strategists for an interview with the candidate went unanswered.

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Columbus, Ohio- Today, Ohio House and Senate Democrats released their proposed congressional maps. Unlike Ohio’s current maps, where Republicans hold 66% of our congressional seats despite earning just 55% of the vote, Democrats have proposed a map that is more representative of Ohio’s actual political leaning based on recent election results.

In response, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde released the following statement:

“House and Senate Democrats have proposed a map that gives all Ohioans an equal voice in our elections, because Ohio Democrats believe voters should choose their elected officials, not the other way around. 

We’re calling on Republican legislators to work with us to pass a map that gives voters an equal opportunity to make their voices heard instead of the same partisan process from last time that led us to the gerrymandered maps that are required by law to be redrawn. Democrats are committed to an open, fair process, and that starts with this proposal. Voters deserve an open, fair process and that starts with today’s proposed map.”

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Eleven Rural Ohio Hospitals are At Risk of Closing as Medicaid Cuts Take Effect

Historic Medicaid cuts backed by Senator Jon Husted have put rural hospitals in Ohio at risk of closing, according to new reporting from the Athens Post.

According to the report, at least two hospitals are already at risk of closing and many others are “being forced to eliminate parts of the services they provide” in Southeast Ohio, which has the highest rates of Medicaid recipients than any other part of the state.

See for yourself:

The Athens Post: Medicaid cuts pose potential threats to rural Ohio hospitals

• President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law July 4 and includes major cuts to Medicaid, according to a report by the Associated Press. 

• Though these cuts will take time to fully roll out, many worry about potential hospital closures in the near future. Hospitals in rural areas are specifically at risk. 

• The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted research and sent a letter informing Senate Democrats of the effects the funding cuts could have on rural hospitals. 

• Two hospitals located in Southeast Ohio, the Holzer Medical Center in Jackson County and Southern Ohio Medical Center in Scioto County, were named on the list. 

• Counties in Southeast Ohio tend to have higher rates of Medicaid recipients than other regions of the state, according to a 2023 study from Georgetown University.

• Political commentator Lisa Parker resides in Jackson County and commented on the impact these cuts will have on the local community.

• “A lot of these people, I don’t think, have grasped what’s keeping their family afloat are benefits that are being cut, and they’re going to feel these cuts next fall,” Parker said. 

• According to an Associated Press article, around 10 million people are expected to lose their health insurance as a result of this bill.

• Marjie Shew, a farmer in Morgan County, said more people will be uninsured, sharing what she thinks the impact of the cuts will be on the local community members who are on Medicaid.

• “Those people die sooner,” Shew said. “That’s basically what happens, they don’t get the attention they need until they’re debilitated.”

• Cronin mentioned an additional concern for potential closures of rural hospitals. He noted that many businesses in local communities can stay open because a hospital is their biggest employer. 

• “If we lose these hospitals that are anchors to their community, the entire community shifts,” Cronin said. “There are less job opportunities, there’s less money in the economy. And I really think it’s important to look at the entire community effect when we lose something as important as a hospital.”

• Cronin also stated that even without closures, many rural hospitals are being forced to eliminate parts of the services they provide. He specifically mentioned the maternity desert crisis in Ohio, a trend where hospitals are suspending labor and delivery to stay open. 

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