Ramaswamy vows Medicaid fraud crackdown, but his running mate helped end Ohio’s Medicaid Oversight

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (R) has shifted his stance on Medicaid this month. The Republican vowed to root out fraud in the health insurance program, even though his running mate, state Senate Majority Leader Rob McColley (R-Napoleon), was key in dissolving a committee charged with watching over the program.

During a May 19 press conference, Ramaswamy, McColley and House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said rooting out Medicaid fraud would be a top priority if Ramaswamy is elected governor in 2026. Yet, despite McColley and Huffman have significant power over Ohio’s checks and balances in the state government, they blamed outgoing Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and his administration for recent reports from The Daily Wire about rampant Medicaid fraud in the state.

They also took aim at DeWine’s former Director of Medicaid Maureen Corcoran, who resigned last September.

“In the current situation, the now former director ran this department for six or seven years,” Huffman said. “Those decisions that she [Corcoran] was making internally allowed many of the things to happen that were just described to you and scores of other things.”

The veracity of The Daily Wire reports has been questioned by Ohio Democrats, as they show where federal Medicaid payments went for services but do not provide clear evidence of fraud. Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) isn’t convinced the GOP is serious about the issue.

“I question whether it is real or not to begin with, or this is some kind of fishing expedition to create a crisis,” Antonio told Cleveland.com. “And I question how [Ramaswamy] is going to solve an issue that his party leaders have been in charge of for the past 20 years.”

Antonio was also critical of the GOP’s decision to dissolve the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) last year, which watched over the program in the state.

“Maybe that wasn’t the greatest thing to change it, because I think there was a lot of oversight that was provided on a consistent basis with that group,” Antonio said.

Republicans removed Medicaid oversight

As Senate President, McColley held significant influence over the 2025 budget process that eventually dissolved JMOC, which was actively investigating contracts with the largest Medicaid processor in Ohio before it was abolished. Despite his record, McColley said Medicaid fraud is an “issue that needs to be taken seriously.”

State Rep. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester), who served on the JMOC, told AP News that the Committee could have helped accomplish Ramaswamy’s new fraud prevention plan.

“I question whether it is real or not to begin with, or this is some kind of fishing expedition to create a crisis. And I question how [Ramaswamy] is going to solve an issue that his party leaders have been in charge of for the past 20 years.”

Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood)

“I believe that if we had kept JMOC it always could have been something that we kept in place that could have morphed into a DOGE Ohio, an Ohio Medicaid DOGE,” Gross said on Tuesday.

Ramaswamy’s plan includes streamlining Medicaid’s infrastructure and asking the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for more fraud prevention money.

Ramaswamy refused to answer whether he thinks certain Republicans, who have held total control over the Ohio state government since 2011, should be held accountable for not catching the fraud.

“I’m not playing that game, ok? I think we need a fresh approach, and what my candidacy represents is, I believe, a bottom-up movement and a demand for change, positive change in the state,” Ramaswamy said on Tuesday. “A movement beyond the status quo that takes a lot of this for granted.”

JMOC’s responsibilities were transferred to standing committees in both chambers of the Ohio legislature, which Huffman claims is more effective.

The press conference marked a clear departure from Ramaswamy’s previous stance on social programs. Earlier this year, he garnered backlash after saying Medicaid and Medicare were both “mistakes” during an interview with New York Times columnist Ezra Klein.

“Ohioans know Vivek Ramaswamy thinks Medicaid is a mistake. His pathetic attempt at claiming he will fight Medicaid fraud while his own running mate dismantled the Medicaid Oversight Committee is proof of yet another Ramaswamy scam,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Ohioans can’t trust a word Vivek Ramaswamy says because he only cares about himself.”