Ohio removes over 600,000 people from state Medicaid plan

Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans have been rolled off the state’s Medicaid plan in the space of roughly two years, data from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research and news organization, has shown. 

Around 600,000 Ohioans were disenrolled from the state's Medicaid program as part of the unwinding process happening nationwide after Medicaid coverage was expanded during the COVID pandemic. 

"The Unwinding process reflects that COVID-era enhanced Medicaid benefits and eligibility were temporary and never meant to be permanent," the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) reported. 

"Since the ODM saw a 29% increase of more than 800,000 individuals between March 2020 and February 2023 due to temporary pandemic circumstances, decreased enrollment due to unwinding should be expected in every state following the law," the department said. 

The unwinding process has resulted in significant drops in Medicaid enrollment across the U.S. in recent years. Rates of decline in enrollment vary widely between states, with millions removed from the Medicaid program over two years in highly populated states, while other states have seen smaller, but still notable, decreases. 

In Ohio, there were 3,421,792 covered by Medicaid in March 2023, but by April 2025, that number was 2,802,277, KFF data shows. 

However, while this marked a drop of just over 600,000 Medicaid recipients, the enrollment levels had not returned back to prepandemic levels in April 2025, as they were still 8% higher than levels in February 2020—when there were 2,596,917 enrolled on the state's Medicaid program. 

Federal rules forced states to keep recipients of the program enrolled, regardless of changes to eligibility, until March 2023. 

That month, states were then allowed to start an "unwinding process," where those no longer eligible for the program were disenrolled. 

While some of those disenrolled from the Medicaid program in Ohio may have had access to other forms of health insurance, such as through employment, many may have been left uninsured. 

As the unwinding continues, more reductions in enrollment are expected across the country, elevating concerns about how the rates of uninsured Americans could impact health outcomes.