Husted took hundreds of thousands from insurers now raising Ohio rates

Ohio Sen. Jon Husted has accepted more than $679,000 from insurance companies and their executives over the course of his political career. Many of those companies are now raising rates for struggling Ohioans.

Husted, a Republican, was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 2000 and the state Senate in 2008. He was elected lieutenant governor in 2018 and was appointed to the U.S. Senate last year to fill the seat vacated by Vice President J.D. Vance.

Campaign finance disclosures show that Husted’s first campaigns were supported by Anthem (now Elevance Health), Medical Mutual of Ohio, UnitedHealth Group, and their affiliated PACs. These companies continued to support Husted over the years, as did CareSource, Buckeye Community Health Plan, Summa Health Systems, and Centene.

Husted’s year-end filing for 2025 added a new donor to the list: America’s Health Insurance Plans PAC, a trade organization that represents insurance companies.

All of the corporations backing Husted are now raising rates on Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) plans in Ohio. Buckeye Community Health Plan, for example, is increasing rates this year by 27.25%.

UnitedHealth Group rates are going up by 30.9%.

The sharpest increase is from Paramount Insurance Company, which is hiking rates by 37%.

A spokesperson for Centene, which owns Buckeye Community Health Plan and insures the largest number of Ohioans on Obamacare, told the Ohio Capital Journal the rate increases are necessary to meet patient demand.

“Over the past several months, we have been working closely with Ohio regulators and their third-party actuaries to balance rising health care costs with the needs of Ohio citizens,” the spokesperson said. “Our rate adjustments reflect higher-than-expected care needs than in previous years, including increased hospitalizations, emergency room utilization, and behavioral health services.”

Centene’s gross profit for 2024 was $16.8 billion.

The rate increases come on top of the expiration of enhanced Obamacare tax credits that kept premiums low for 22 million Americans, including 500,000 Ohioans. On Jan. 13, Husted said he opposed a bipartisan plan to reinstate the credits for three more years.

Husted is running for his first full term in the U.S. Senate this year. His likely opponent is former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

An Emerson College poll from December found that nearly half of Ohio voters say the economy, particularly affordability, is their top concern in the upcoming election.