09/14/2026
A Message from the OSMA President
OSMAPAC Endorsement of Candidate for Governor
OSMAPAC recently completed its deliberations in the 2026 Ohio general election and has chosen to endorse Vivek Ramaswamy for governor. OSMA appreciates the work of the OSMAPAC Board and recognizes its independent authority to make endorsement decisions.
Ohio’s physicians hold a broad range of personal and professional perspectives about the current state of healthcare and the policies that can best improve it. We share many of the same concerns about the challenges facing our patients and our profession; however, as the state’s largest physician association, representing medical doctors from all practice settings and specialties, we may differ in our opinions about the appropriate roles of government, markets, insurers, employers and healthcare institutions.
Those differences are a valuable asset to us in our advocacy, and as we endeavor to respect the diverse perspectives of our members, it is critical that we also remain focused on the principles that unite all physicians across political perspectives: protecting the patient-physician relationship, maintaining the highest standards of care, making Ohio a place where physicians want to train and practice, and ensuring that physicians can make medical decisions based upon the needs of their patients.
As OSMA President, I had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Ramaswamy and his wife, Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy, for a substantive discussion about healthcare in Ohio. I was pleased to hear his support for several of these uniting principles and to discuss how they might inform healthcare policy in our state.
Among the areas we discussed:
- Reducing government and insurance barriers to practicing medicine, including unnecessary administrative burdens that interfere with physicians’ ability to care for patients.
- Strengthening Ohio’s physician pipeline, including expanding residency opportunities so that more physicians who train in Ohio remain here to practice.
- Protecting the patient-physician relationship from inappropriate interference by insurance companies. Mr. Ramaswamy expressed the view that physicians must remain in charge of the healthcare process and that insurers should not be making medical decisions that should be made between physicians and their patients.
- Preserving physician-led care and maintaining standards based upon appropriate education, training and competency. As Ohio considers workforce and access challenges, OSMA believes patients are best served by healthcare teams in which physicians retain responsibility for diagnosis, treatment and the overall direction of medical care. Changes affecting professional scope should preserve those standards and place patient safety ahead of workforce or cost considerations.
- Protecting Ohio’s medical liability environment. Mr. Ramaswamy specifically identified keeping medical liability low as an important component of making Ohio one of the best states in which to practice medicine and expressed concern about HB 447 and proposals that would increase the cap on noneconomic damages. A stable and reasonable liability environment protects access to care, reduces incentives for defensive medicine, and helps Ohio recruit and retain physicians.
- Making Ohio one of the best places in the country to practice medicine by bringing joy back to the practice of medicine through reducing unnecessary regulatory and administrative burdens, supporting innovation and technology, and restoring the ability of physicians to spend their time practicing medicine rather than navigating obstacles around it.
These uniting principles extend beyond any one candidate, political party, or election. While they may provide insight into the considerations that informed the OSMAPAC Board’s endorsement decision, they also emphasize that the continued dedication to these principles as we move forward is an opportunity for us to foster greater accountability and transparency with a candidate on how they will handle healthcare policy should they be elected.
Physicians may disagree about how best to achieve these principles, and those disagreements are both real and important. What doesn’t change with any single election is our responsibility to advocate for a healthcare environment in which patients receive high-quality care and physicians have the ability to provide it.
To physicians across the state, know that OSMA will continue working with policymakers across the political spectrum to advance these principles on behalf of Ohio physicians and the patients they serve.
Gary Katz, MD
OSMA President