Ohio is expected to lose 51,000 jobs and $5.3 billion from the state economy in 2029, according to a Commonwealth Fund analysis.
Medicaid work requirements part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could cause 356,000 Ohioans to lose their healthcare coverage, and about 113,000 Ohioans have already lost their coverage after tax credits expired.
Ohio saw the biggest drop of any state in enrollment in health plans under the Affordable Care Act between February 2025 and February 2026 (32.4%).
The average monthly premium for Ohioans on the marketplace jumped from $126 in 2025 to $233 in 2026, according to the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.
“Trump promised to make life more affordable, and in Ohio and across the country, he has done the absolute opposite,” state Rep. Ashley Bryant Bailey, D-Cincinnati, said on a recent media call.
“For a family, that is not one affordability problem. They are consequences of policy choices Donald Trump and the Republicans have made. You cannot cut people’s healthcare, food assistance, and watch their household costs climb, and then tell them you’re making America more affordable.”
This all comes as Ohio’s gas prices have increased nearly 42% since this time last year.
“Ohio’s become incredibly expensive,” Ohio Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman of Cincinnati said on the call.
“We need a Congress that’s going to fundamentally turn things around economically and lower lower costs and get wages up. One of the most important things that a new House, a new Senate, should take up is reversing the food and healthcare cuts, just because it’s such an urgent need for families.”
Ohioans are also feeling the squeeze when it comes to housing.
A full-time Ohio worker needs to be making at least $23.82 an hour to be able to afford a “modest” two-bedroom apartment, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.
“The average age now of first-time home ownership in Ohio is 38-years-old,” said Ohio state Rep. Karen Brownlee, D-Symmes Twp.
“Most people don’t wish to wait that long to have families to settle down and to put down roots. Those are prime years that you’re losing, and so there’s really, right now, a dearth of housing. Even when new housing is getting built, nobody can afford it because it’s at the highest price levels.”
Ohio has a shortage of 266,000 affordable and available rental units, according to the 2026 Gap Report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and COHHIO.
“If we don’t have our basic needs met — whether it is housing or food or healthcare — that we all must have, then the stress level of each individual who’s facing those stressors is going to go up,” Brownlee said.
“It puts you into a state of chaos internally, which then creates an impact on your overall community.”
Midterm election
Landsman — who has served in Congress since 2023 — is facing Republican and former CIA officer Eric Conroy and Libertarian Nathan Weise in the November election.
“Greg Landsman claiming he is fighting inflation is like an arsonist putting out the fire that he set,” Conroy’s Campaign Manager Collin Wojcik said in an email.
“Eric knows that opening up American energy, bringing back outsourced jobs from China and Mexico, and growing wages is key to bringing down prices – not Landsman’s socialist agenda.”
The Cook Political Report rates Ohio’s 1st Congressional District as “Lean Democrat.”
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Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.
