CLEVELAND, OH — A group of elected officials and civic leaders gathered across the street from MetroHealth – the Northeast Ohio’s safety net hospital – to warn Ohioans that Vivek Ramaswamy’s agenda could take away their health coverage and gut critical services Ohioans need to live healthy lives.

See video and photos from the event here.

Rep. Darnell Brewer (D-Cleveland) was one of 21 Democrats who opposed the Republican gubernatorial candidate’s political stunt to suspend the gas tax. He said the $725 million legislators will be taking a surplus in Ohio's general fund would be better spent addressing Ohio’s most pressing needs – like ensuring people who need it are covered by Medicaid, which covers 3 million Ohioans. But Ramaswamy famously called Medicaid “a mistake” and peddled racist false claims to undermine the program.  

“The number one reason constituents contact my office today is seeking assistance with Medicaid coverage,” Brewer said. “Is it a mistake to provide 40% of children with health care? Is it a mistake to help our disabled Ohioans afford the healthcare they need? Is it a mistake to care for 30% of Cuyahoga County?”

Ramaswamy’s agenda includes eliminating the state income tax – which Innovation Ohio estimates would blow a $10 billion-a-year hole in the state budget – more than the state spends covering Ohioans through Medicaid. Cleveland Councilmember Tanmay Shah said Ramaswamy’s plan would be devastating to the people he represents in Ward 12. 

“Each of these privatizations and tax cuts are actually more money for people like Vivek himself,” he said. “As Cleveland where we take pride in the hospital systems that we have…we should be enjoying some of the best health outcomes for our population, but that is not the truth. We see too often that the priority goes to the wealthy instead of our working class people. And if we want to change that we know that we need better policies coming out of the statehouse.”

Yvonka Hall, the outreach director of the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, says Ramswamy’s policies would disproportionately harm Black and brown Ohioans and people with low incomes by forcing local communities to make up the funding gap. She said that would mean less money to address Ohio’s racial infant mortality gap, fund food banks, and address the lead poisoning crisis that disproportionately harms Black and brown children. 

“We know that all policies should be considered health policies, when we are taking policies into account, we should be thinking about the health impact of those policies,” she said. “But those things don’t seem to come into account when it comes to Vivek’s campaign. We have to do everything we can to ensure we have an elected official that works to improve our health, and not take us back to the  time before Medicaid protection.”

Donna Luebke is a retired nurse practitioner at MetroHealth and member of Nurses for America. She said her former employer provided $1 million per day in charity care. More people kicked off Medicaid will mean more hospitals will be forced to provide uncompensated care, and ultimately, many will lose too much revenue and be forced to close. 

“People will not access care for prevention or maintenance because they cannot pay,” she said. “They will utilize emergency departments when they could be seeing a primary care provider. Ohioans are being kicked off Medicaid so billionaires and corporations can get their tax cuts. There is only one billionaire on the ballot in Ohio for governor.”