.Leigh Greene, left, Minority Health Director, City of Youngstown Health Dept., discusses health issues with Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (not in photo) as Osoka Oyidiya, Internal Medicine Resident at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, center, and Paul Olivier, Chief Networking Integration Officer, Mercy Health, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, right, listen during the roundtable forum Monday morning. Photo by R. Michael Semple

YOUNGSTOWN — A study cited by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Monday indicates almost 2 million Ohioans could lose their health insurance if the courts strike down the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

Brown participated in a roundtable discussion here with local medical officials — largely from Mercy Health and Akron Children’s Hospital — at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital concerning that possibility.

The final decision will rest with the U.S. Supreme Court, Brown said.

During his visit at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital he pointed to this month’s study from the Kaiser Family Foundation that states 29 percent of nonelderly adults in Ohio are at risk of losing their insurance due to pre-existing conditions if the lawsuit is successful.

“We’re going to see consumer protections wiped out by the president in this lawsuit,” Brown said. “It’s going to mean a lot of people are going to lose their insurance and it’s something they didn’t have to do.”

Leigh Greene, minority health director for Youngstown’s health department and a roundtable participant, said people’s “resources are already strained. If the ACA was removed, those who are on medicine are going to have to make a choice between that and food. We’re already seeing some people having to decide that. It would be beyond belief to eliminate it. People don’t realize the impact if we lose the Affordable Care Act.”