As open enrollment for 2026 health-care coverage begins, thousands of Ohio families are opening notices that feel like a gut punch: premiums doubling, deductibles spiking, and federal assistance evaporating. Behind those painful numbers is a political choice years in the making — one championed by Republican U.S. Senator Jon Husted, who was appointed to Vice President JD Vance’s former seat and is now running for a full term in 2026.

The cost of Husted’s “pro-family” plan

Husted has repeatedly backed the GOP’s effort to roll back key parts of the Affordable Care Act. He praised that plan as “pro-family,” even as it gutted Medicaid expansion and threatened to rip away tax credits that help working- and middle-class Ohioans afford coverage.

Those very provisions — the enhanced ACA premium subsidies created and later extended under President Biden — are now set to expire. Without them, average premiums in Ohio are projected to jump by 83 percent, or about $804 more per person each year, according to analyses from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute. Roughly 107,000 Ohioans stand to lose coverage entirely, and more than half a million will pay hundreds or even thousands more out-of-pocket.

Husted has done nothing to stop it. Instead, he’s spent years defending a system that puts corporate insurers and political ideology ahead of Ohio families.

A crisis manufactured in Columbus — and Washington

The expiration of the federal tax credits is not an accident of timing. It’s the result of sustained Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act and its funding mechanisms — opposition that Husted has embraced throughout his career. In 2017, he supported GOP proposals that would have replaced the ACA with high-deductible “market-based” plans, removing protections for people with pre-existing conditions and slashing Medicaid dollars for Ohio.

Now the effects are clear. As insurers file for 2026 rate increases, many cite the looming subsidy cliff and shrinking enrollment pools as justification for premium hikes. Working families are being priced out of basic care while politicians like Husted continue to posture about “fiscal responsibility.”

The irony: Ohio’s uninsured rate had reached a historic low after the ACA’s rollout. Medicaid expansion brought coverage to hundreds of thousands of low-income residents, stabilizing rural hospitals and cutting medical debt statewide. But Husted and his allies treated that progress as a political problem to undo — and the rollback is coming due.

Who pays the price

The hardest hit will be middle-class families who don’t qualify for Medicaid but rely on the health-insurance marketplace for affordable coverage. A 60-year-old couple in northwest Ohio earning $82,000, for example, could see their monthly premium soar from about $580 to more than $2,100 if enhanced subsidies expire, according to modeling from the Urban Institute. Many will have no choice but to drop coverage altogether.

Rural hospitals — already on the brink — could see a surge in uninsured patients and uncompensated care. That ripple effect threatens jobs, local economies, and community health outcomes from Tiffin to Athens.

Husted’s record speaks louder than his campaign rhetoric

As he campaigns to keep his Senate seat, Husted has attempted to distance himself from national GOP health-care fights, insisting he supports “affordable options” for families. But his record tells a different story:

  • He opposed the creation of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that are now keeping premiums lower.
  • He backed Republican legislation to shrink Medicaid coverage and weaken consumer protections.
  • He celebrated the repeal of ACA provisions as a “win for families,” even as premiums rose and rural hospitals warned of collapse.

Husted has had more than a decade to propose a serious plan to reduce costs and expand access. Instead, he’s sided with corporate interests, ideological think-tanks, and political donors who view health care as a profit engine, not a public good.

Ohio’s choice

For ordinary Ohioans, this isn’t a partisan debate — it’s about survival. Prescription prices, insurance deductibles, and hospital closures are squeezing families from all sides. The numbers don’t lie: under Husted’s brand of “reform,” millions nationwide will pay more and get less.

As the state’s 2026 U.S. Senate race takes shape, voters are seeing the consequences of that record in real time — not in abstract policy papers, but in the bills arriving in their mailboxes this month.

Republicans like Jon Husted helped create this health-care crisis. Now Ohioans are the ones paying for it.