On July 1, 2025, Ohio Senator Jon Husted cast one of the 50 votes that passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, whose Medicaid work requirement makes disabled adults on expansion Medicaid prove they are exempt, and whose six-month eligibility checks CBO expects to leave 700,000 more people uninsured in 2034. The day before, he voted against motions to remove the bill's new paperwork requirements and to strike its Medicaid cuts. Mehmet Oz's Medicaid agency, which he voted to confirm, then wrote a rule that narrows who counts as medically frail.
Husted voted to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi and civil rights chief Harmeet Dhillon, whose division cut its disability enforcement by about 85 percent, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department joined states in asking a court to strike the rule against needlessly placing people with disabilities in institutions. In Ohio, 2,051 people were waiting for Medicaid home care in 2026.
Jon Husted's Votes and Confirmations on Disability Rights and Benefits
- Husted Cast One of the 50 Votes for Medicaid Work Requirements and Paperwork Checks That Put Disabled Adults' Coverage at Risk. On July 1, 2025, Jon Husted voted yes on H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote, so it would have failed without him. The law requires states to verify that adults on expansion Medicaid work or qualify for an exemption, starting by January 2027, and adds eligibility checks every six months for those adults. The Medicaid agency projects that the work requirement means enrollment would be reduced by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027, and CBO estimates the six-month checks will increase the number of people who are uninsured by 700,000 in 2034. Disabled adults who are not on disability-based Medicaid must prove they qualify as medically frail, a verification that will place an enormous administrative burden on individuals, health care providers, health plans, and states, Georgetown's Center for Children and Families found.
- Husted Voted Against Removing the Medicaid Paperwork Rules and Cuts in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Husted voted no on a motion to send the bill back to committee to remove provisions stripping people of federal benefits through the creation of new administrative burdens and paperwork requirements, which failed 48 to 52. He also voted against a second motion that would strike any provision that cuts funding for Medicaid, which lost by 47 to 53. Home and community-based services, which let people with disabilities live at home rather than in institutions, are largely an optional Medicaid benefit, which makes these programs more vulnerable to reductions during periods of state or federal budget constraints, the Bipartisan Policy Center notes. People on Medicaid home care waiting lists waited 32 months on average in 2025, KFF found.
- Husted Voted Against Repealing the Six-Month Medicaid Checks in January 2026. On January 30, 2026, Husted voted no on Senator Bernie Sanders's amendment to repeal Section 71107 of the Act titled eligibility redeterminations, the six-month checks for expansion adults. It needed 60 votes and failed 49 to 51. Under the checks, a disabled adult in the expansion group has to prove eligibility again every six months or risk losing coverage, the change CBO tied to higher uninsurance in the item above.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Mehmet Oz, Whose Agency Narrowed Medicaid's Disability Exemption. On April 3, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and he was confirmed 53 to 45. Oz's agency issued a June 2026 rule for the work requirement under which a condition must significantly impair a person's ability to work, and Georgetown's Center for Children and Families concluded that Fewer people will qualify as medically frail.
- Husted Voted to Confirm the Justice Department Officials Who Cut Disability Rights Enforcement by About 85 Percent. Jon Husted voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general on February 4, 2025 and Harmeet Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights on April 3, 2025, when Dhillon was confirmed 52 to 45. The Civil Rights Division's own website showed an approximately 85 percent reduction of disability-related enforcement activity in the administration's first year compared with the year before, according to Red Line for Civil Rights, a tracker run by former Justice Department lawyers.
- Husted Voted to Confirm the Officials Whose Departments Joined States to Strike the Rule Against Needless Institutionalization. Jon Husted voted to confirm Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025 and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary on February 13, 2025. By June 2026 Blanche was serving as acting Attorney General, NOTUS reported. In June 2026 the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the disability laws impose no legal duty on states to provide integrated services, and the Justice Department, representing Kennedy's department, switched sides and agreed with the states that the requirement should be undone. On September 23, 2026, a federal court in Texas vacated the entire integration provision which includes specific prohibitions against segregation and institutionalization from the health department's Section 504 rule. People with disabilities who want services in their communities may have to go to greater lengths, including suing states, the Florida Phoenix reported.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Linda McMahon, Whose Education Department Dismissed Thousands of Civil Rights Complaints. On March 3, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Linda McMahon as secretary of education, and she was confirmed 51 to 45. About 12,000 complaints were pending before Trump took office, more than half concerning students with disabilities, and under McMahon the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights dismissed more than 6,000 complaints without an investigation, The Hechinger Report found, after the department closed regional civil rights offices in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
- Husted Voted to Confirm the Social Security Commissioner as Disability Hearing Backlogs Grew. On May 6, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Frank Bisignano as commissioner of Social Security, a month after he voted against amendments to prevent DOGE from closing Social Security offices and to preserve Social Security's phone service. The number of people waiting for a disability hearing rose by more than 73,000 from January 2025 to February 2026, to nearly 344,000, and the agency lost 13 percent of its administrative law judges, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found. Those waiting are applicants who have been denied once and are appealing.
- Husted Voted to Confirm the Labor Secretary Who Kept Subminimum Wages for Workers With Disabilities. On March 10, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as secretary of labor. In July 2025 Chavez-DeRemer's department withdrew its proposal to phase out the issuance of subminimum wage certificates, so employers can still pay some workers with disabilities less than the minimum wage.
What the Retreat From Disability Protections Jon Husted Backed Means for Ohio
- Home care waiting list. 2,051 people in Ohio were on waiting lists for Medicaid home and community-based services in 2026, KFF found, the services that let people with disabilities live at home.
- Medicaid work requirement. Ohio expanded Medicaid, so disabled adults in its expansion group must prove an exemption or meet the work rule, and Ohio Medicaid enrollment is projected to drop by 305,000, or 10%, by 2028 under the work requirements, according to a Manatt estimate published by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.
- Disability benefits. 302,623 disabled workers in Ohio received Social Security disability benefits at the end of 2024, according to the Social Security Administration, and the national hearing backlog means longer waits for those who appeal a denial.
- Civil rights complaints. The Education Department's regional civil rights office in Cleveland was among those closed, so complaints from Ohio families of students with disabilities go to a smaller, more distant staff.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jon Husted on Disability rights
What is Jon Husted's record on disability rights under Trump?
Jon Husted cast one of the 50 votes for the 2025 law's Medicaid work requirement and six-month checks, and voted against motions to remove its paperwork requirements and funding cuts. He voted to confirm the officials who carried out the disability rollbacks that followed: Mehmet Oz, whose agency narrowed the medically frail exemption, Pam Bondi and Harmeet Dhillon, whose division cut disability enforcement, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Todd Blanche, whose departments helped vacate the Section 504 integration rule.
What happened to the Section 504 integration rule under the officials Jon Husted confirmed?
Jon Husted voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary and Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general, and in 2026 the Justice Department, representing Kennedy's department, joined five states in asking a court to strike the rule's integration provisions, which a court did on September 23, 2026. The rule had barred the needless segregation of people with disabilities in institutions.
Will disabled Ohioans on Medicaid have to meet the work requirement?
Many disabled Ohioans on Medicaid will have to prove they are exempt under the law Jon Husted voted for: disabled adults in Ohio's expansion group who are not on disability-based Medicaid must show the state they are medically frail, and Oz's agency narrowed that category so that Fewer people will qualify as medically frail. Those who cannot document it in time face the loss of coverage when the requirement starts, which the Medicaid agency projects will cut enrollment by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027.
Last updated: 2026-10-25