Ohio Medicaid stands to shrink by 305,000 people, or 10%, by 2028 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's work requirement, a Manatt Health projection shows, and Mike Turner voted for that requirement, which reaches disabled adults in Ohio's expansion group unless one of its exemptions applies to them.
Without Turner's yes votes, the 2025 budget resolution would have tied and failed; it demanded at least $880 billion in savings from the Medicaid committee, pressure that falls on optional home and community-based services, the care that keeps many people with disabilities out of institutions. In his 10th District, Medicaid's 2025 rolls included 26,300 people with disabilities.
Mike Turner's Votes on Medicaid Work Rules and Disability Services
- 2.3 Million Projected to Lose Medicaid in a Year Under Work Rules Turner Voted For That Reach Disabled Adults in the Expansion Group. Turner voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at both of its House passage votes: 215 to 214 in May 2025 and 218 to 214 on July 3, 2025. Covered adults will have to log 80 hours a month of work or a similar activity, starting no later than January 1, 2027, unless an exemption applies; the law's list includes anyone blind or disabled as section 1614 defines it, people "with a disabling mental disorder," people "with a physical, intellectual or developmental disability that significantly impairs their ability to perform 1 or more activities of daily living," and people "with a serious or complex medical condition." Federal Medicaid officials forecast the cost in people: "enrollment would be reduced by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027," the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services writes.
- Home Care That Keeps Disabled Ohioans Out of Institutions Is Exposed to the $880 Billion Medicaid-Committee Target Turner's Budget Votes Decided. The budget resolution, H.Con.Res. 14, was adopted 217 to 215 on February 25 and 216 to 214 on April 10, so a switch by Turner alone would have left it tied each time, and a tied resolution does not pass. It gave Energy and Commerce, the Medicaid committee, a goal to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000" across ten years. Home and community-based services, through which people with disabilities get personal care and support at home rather than in a facility, are "largely an optional Medicaid benefit," the Bipartisan Policy Center notes, which makes them "more vulnerable to reductions during periods of state or federal budget constraints"; experts expect the law to "slow or reverse recent HCBS expansion efforts" by states.
What Mike Turner's Votes Mean for Ohioans With Disabilities
- 26,300 Medicaid enrollees with disabilities in Turner's district rely on services the cuts put at risk. In Ohio's 10th District, KFF's 2025 enrollment data list 26,300 people with disabilities on Medicaid. Many depend on home and community-based services, which states choose whether to offer and which, as an optional benefit, are among the first in line when a Medicaid budget has to shrink.
- Ohio's home care waiting list already held 2,051 people. Even before the law's Medicaid reductions take hold, 2,051 Ohioans were waiting in 2026 for an opening in one of Ohio's Medicaid home and community-based services programs, according to KFF; those are the services that allow a person with a disability to live in their own home.
- Ohio Medicaid is projected to lose 305,000 enrollees to the work rules. Because Ohio expanded Medicaid, its expansion adults, disabled people among them, fall under the work rule unless one of its exemptions applies. The Health Policy Institute of Ohio, publishing a Manatt Health estimate, projects Ohio Medicaid enrollment down 305,000, or 10%, by 2028 under the work requirements, and a disabled adult who is not identified as exempt can be one of them.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mike Turner on Disability rights
What is Mike Turner's record on disability rights under Trump?
Mike Turner voted for a Medicaid work requirement in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that reaches disabled adults in Ohio's expansion group who do not meet one of its exemptions, and his votes decided both 2025 House votes on the budget resolution, whose instructions put an $880 billion savings demand on Energy and Commerce, the panel that writes Medicaid law. A Manatt estimate projects Ohio Medicaid enrollment dropping by 305,000 under the work rules.
Are disabled Ohioans exempt from the Medicaid work rule Mike Turner voted for?
Not all of them: the requirement Mike Turner voted for reaches Ohio's Medicaid expansion group, and disabled adults in that group are exempt when they meet one of the law's exemptions, which the state must check using "reliable information available to the State" where it can. The same law has states recheck expansion adults' eligibility "once every 6 months," and Ohio must start the work rule "no later than January 1, 2027."
How many people in Mike Turner's district face the Medicaid work rule?
In Mike Turner's 10th District, 49,400 adults were enrolled through Ohio's Medicaid expansion in 2025, KFF data show, and they are the group the law's work requirement covers. Disabled adults among them will have to report hours unless they meet one of the law's exemptions.
Last updated: 2026-10-27