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CLEVELAND — Rep. Shontel Brown warned Wednesday that looming federal cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid will create a health care crisis in Northeast Ohio, potentially leaving tens of thousands of residents with higher costs or no coverage at all. The cuts amount to “a one two punch that is going to punish everyday people,” Brown said at a news conference at the Village of Healing, a healthcare and community development organization in Cleveland. “In Cuyahoga County, we’re talking about 50,000 people paying more and 43,000 people losing coverage. That is unacceptable to me. And that’s why I stand firm, 10 toes down and shoulder to shoulder with the people I represent,” Brown said. Brown was joined by Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, Cuyahoga County Department of Health and Human Services Director David Merriman, Dr. Arthur Lavin of Doctors Organized for Healthcare Solutions, and Da’na Langford CEO & Founder, Village of Healing. Brown highlighted two major policy changes that she said will devastate the region: the end of enhanced premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, and what she described as, “the largest cuts to Medicaid in the history of the program.” The enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic and extended through 2025 via the Inflation Reduction Act, are at the center of the standoff between Republicans and Democrats in the ongoing federal government shutdown. The tax credits, which roughly 22 million Americans benefit from, help lower monthly premiums for people buying insurance through the ACA marketplace. The enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of 2025, meaning they will not be available starting January 1, 2026, unless Congress acts to extend them. Brown said that in Cuyahoga County, approximately 56,000 people are enrolled in ACA marketplace plans. Brown said nearly all of them will see premium increases if the tax credits expire, with the average national increase reaching $700 annually. Families and older residents will face even steeper hikes, she said. “The Republican Party has been consumed with tearing it [the Affordable Care Act] down. I don’t know why are so caught up with threatening all of our lives, but they are, and here we are again. They failed to repeal it. Now they’re trying to smother it,” Lavin said. Brown said that her office ran the numbers for how these changes will impact a typical family in Ohio’s11th congressional district: A family of four in Cleveland with two adults in their 40s, two children ages eight and 10, and a household income of $56,000 annually. Their premiums would double from $2,400 per year to $4,800 per year under the proposed changes. “I am incredibly worried about what will happen and the terrible choices that people will have to make. People will have to figure out how to pay rent, pay for insurance, pay the heating bill and keep food on the table in an economy that is already entirely too expensive. And a lot of people won’t be able to do that,” Brown said. Brown also criticized planned Medicaid cuts totaling $1 trillion, along with work requirements, which she called “immoral, unnecessary and wrong.” “The goal is not to encourage work because the reality is most people on Medicaid already work,” she said. “The goal is to tie people up in red tape and kick people off Medicaid, plain and simple.” The Congressional Budget Office estimates that more than 17 million Americans could lose health care coverage due to the combined policy changes. Brown said in her district alone more than 43,000 people are at risk of losing coverage. Ronayne also argued for preserving Medicaid. “I firmly believe the measure of our compassion is not what we cut, but what we choose to protect. We need to protect Medicaid,” Ronayne said.
