Media Contact: Dr. John Stanford, State Director, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, jstanford@childrensdfense.org, 740-914-902
Health experts and youth experts are concerned cuts to Medicaid would jeopardize the well-being of hundreds of thousands of children in Ohio. In 2023, approximately 1.4 million Ohio children were enrolled in Medicaid, according to KIDS COUNT Ohio.
COLUMBUS, OH — On Monday, health experts and youth advocates will address members of the Ohio General Assembly and Ohio Legislative Children’s Caucus to inform them of Medicaid’s impact on children and young people in the state. The hearing comes as members of the Ohio General Assembly and Congress consider changes to state and federal Medicaid programs respectively.
At the virtual meeting, CDF-Ohio Research Manager Dr. Guillermo Bervejillo will present the latest Medicaid enrollment data for young people from the CDF-Ohio KIDS COUNT 2025 data report. Policy Matters Ohio Budget and Health Researcher Kathryn Poe will provide her research on the potential impact of funding cuts to the state’s Medicaid program. Finally, Elisabeth Wright Burak, a Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, will give an update on where Medicaid proposals stand in Congress and what they could mean for Ohio children and families.
Medicaid provides a lifeline to 1.4 million of Ohio’s children, according to CDF-OH’s KIDS COUNT 2025 report. The data also highlights the shared experience of children and young people across Ohio, from its largest cities to its Appalachian communities, as children in both settings receive comparable levels of Medicaid support:
- 59.7% of children in Ohio’s Appalachian region
- 60.1% of children in Ohio’s metropolitan areas
| What: | Ohio Legislative Children’s Caucus Meeting: Medicaid: The State of Ohio’s Children |
| When: | 2:30 p.m., Monday, March 31, 2025 |
| Who: | Dr. Guillermo Bervejillo, Research Manager, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio Kathryn Poe, Budget and Health Researcher, Policy Matters Ohio Elisabeth Wright Burak, Senior Fellow, Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families |
| Where: | This meeting will be via Zoom. Please click here to register. If you have any questions or troubles with the link, contact Dr. Stanford. |
Video recording will be made available for media upon request.