The fallout from Donald Trump and Republicans’ big, ugly bill is happening now, causing severe damage to health care as we know it. For years, Republicans have been trying to slash Medicaid and dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — and last month, they finally succeeded, pushing through their big, ugly bill making the largest cuts to health care in American history and raising costs for millions of working families across the country. They slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA and are taking away tax credits that make health care more affordable for middle-class Americans. The bill strips health care from more than 15 million people, increases costs on middle- and low-income families, and sends shockwaves through middle- and working-class families trying to make ends meet – all so billionaires and big companies get another tax break.
This is the GOP war on health care in action, and it means higher costs and worse care for millions of American families. The consequences of this bill will be felt for years to come, and we are already seeing the consequences play out across the country. Hundreds of rural hospitals, nursing homes, and care facilities are at risk of cutting services or closing their doors while insurers are raising premium prices through the roof. Trump and Republicans are leaving hard-working families and entire communities behind as they prioritize tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.
With lawmakers headed home for August recess, Republicans continue to lie about the health care cuts as they explain their vote for this bill to their constituents. Protect Our Care’s Trump-GOP Health Care Emergency campaign is dedicated to holding Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress accountable this August. The campaign will feature the following theme weeks:
- August 3 – 9: The Trump-GOP Health Care Emergency: War on Your Health Care
- August 10 – 16: The Trump-GOP Health Care Emergency: Higher Costs for Families
- August 17 – 23: The Trump-GOP Health Care Emergency: Ripping Coverage Away from Millions
- August 24 – 30: The Trump-GOP Health Care Emergency: Hospitals in Crisis
By The Numbers
The GOP tax scam will:
- Rip health care away from over 15 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and large corporations.
- Cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA to pay for handouts to the wealthiest Americans.
- Hike premiums for over 24 million Americans, including rural Americans, small business owners, and middle-class families.
- Impose a sick tax on over 20 million low-income people, hitting them with new bills each time they see a doctor for diabetes, arthritis, or other illnesses.
- Threaten to shutter over 330 hospitals, 570 nursing homes, and hundreds of clinics across the country, forcing more Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency rooms, and face longer wait times and higher costs.
- Generate billions in tax breaks for the rich by choking seniors and working families in red tape and making it harder to enroll in Medicare and Medicaid.
- Trigger nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare by exacerbating the national deficit.
- Force low-income seniors to pay thousands more each year for health care by raising their premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
- Force over 5 million people into medical debt by causing families who lose their coverage to take on an average of $22,280 in medical debt when they previously had none.
- Give away at least $5 billion to drug companies at the expense of seniors and taxpayers by driving up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors on Medicare.
Trump’s War on Your Health Care
Thanks to Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, more than 15 million Americans will lose health care under the GOP plan, which cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA – the largest health care cuts in history. Every single person in America deserves to know who voted to slash their health care and raise premiums and out-of-pocket costs to fund tax breaks for billionaires.
Right now, hospitals, nursing homes, and care facilities across the country are considering service cuts and closures in light of Trump and Republicans’ unprecedented cuts. Because of these policies, insurance companies have also already indicated they plan to raise premiums for 24 million Americans by an average of 15 percent. At the same time, Republicans are eliminating key tax credits for middle-class families, which will force over 20 million of these Americans to pay an average of 75 percent more for their coverage. As a result of this health care disaster that Trump and Republicans have created, millions of families will see their premiums nearly double this fall. As their premiums increase, families will have even less time to sign up for coverage, and millions will lose their coverage due to new red tape requirements. Then, devastating cuts to Medicaid will begin to take effect, causing more rural hospitals to shut down, seniors to be forced out of their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction to lose life-saving care. Taken together, these cuts will cause years of progress to be lost as the uninsured rate explodes to levels not seen in 15 years.
Polling shows that the American people overwhelmingly disapprove of Republicans’ massive health care cuts, with 55 percent of voters saying they would not support someone who voted to cut Medicaid. Donald Trump signed the bill. Republicans voted for it. And now, when parents can’t take their children to the doctor, when rural hospitals shut their doors, when cancer patients lose their coverage mid-treatment, it can only trace back to one thing: Republicans did this to fund tax breaks for the ultrarich.
Republicans In Congress Have Created A Health Care Emergency By Passing Legislation Making The Largest Health Care Cuts In History. The big, ugly bill rips coverage from more than 15 million people, raising premiums and costs for millions more, and closing rural hospitals, all to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations.
- The GOP Tax Scam Includes The Biggest Cut To Medicaid In History. Their cuts will rip health care away from at least 10 million people who rely on Medicaid, including hardworking families and some of the most vulnerable Americans – low-income seniors, children, people fighting cancer or addiction, veterans, people with serious disabilities, and people who take care of their children or elderly parents.
- Republicans Are Choking American Families With Red Tape. The Republican tax bill imposes new red tape requirements that will rip away health care coverage from millions as soon as next year.
- Millions Will Lose Coverage, And That Will Drive Up Costs For Everyone. Ripping away health care means the cost of uncompensated care in the health system will skyrocket, raising costs for everyone.
- Republicans Have Broken The Promises They Made To The American People To Address The Cost Of Living, So They Can Cut Taxes For The Ultra-Wealthy. Instead, they rushed through reckless legislation that rips health care away from millions and raises costs on millions more.
- The Consequences Of Republicans’ Health Care Cuts Will Be Long-Lasting, But The Pain Starts In Just A Few Months, When Families See Their Costs Spike And Millions Begin Losing Coverage. In a matter of weeks, 24 million Americans who buy insurance on their own will see their premiums skyrocket. Families will pay up to 90 percent more for their health care, while billionaires and CEOs will get another huge tax break.
- More Than 20 Million Americans Will Have Their Premiums Skyrocket. Republicans have taken away critical tax credits from working families, raising health care premiums for millions of Americans. Insurers are finalizing these premiums now, and families will be notified of price hikes in a matter of weeks.
- Republicans Are Ripping Away Affordable Care Act Coverage From More Than 5 Million Americans. By taking away tax credits that help families afford coverage, gutting funding through their tax bill, and imposing new rules designed to throw people off their plans, millions of Americans will lose life-saving coverage.
- Not Only Will This Bill Rip Health Care From Millions Of Hardworking Americans, But It Will Also Shutter Hundreds Of Rural Hospitals Across The Country, Creating Health Care Deserts. Because of the GOP tax bill, more than 330 rural hospitals are at risk of immediate closure, and hundreds more will be financially squeezed, putting labor and delivery services, pediatric care, mental health services, and other essential health care at risk.
The GOP Tax Scam Will Shutter Over 330 Rural Hospitals, 570 Nursing Homes, and Nearly 200 Planned Parenthood Health Centers Across The Country. The GOP bill cuts hundreds of billions in critical funding for hospitals and nursing homes, buries them under the burden of uncompensated care, and forces hundreds to close their doors. Expectant mothers will be forced to travel further to get to the nearest maternity ward. Patients will have to travel hundreds of miles to get to an emergency room. More may be forced to delay lifesaving sexual and reproductive health care. Seniors will be forced to leave their nursing homes.
- Hospitals Count On Medicaid To Keep Their Doors Open. Medicaid accounts for one-fifth of spending on hospitals, one-fifth of hospital discharges, and at least one in five inpatient days in nearly every state. Hospitals are the sixth-largest employer in the country. Republicans will undermine an industry that employs nearly 7 million community members, from doctors to nurses to social workers, to hand out tax breaks to the ultrawealthy. An estimated 477,000 health workers will lose their jobs as a result of GOP cuts to Medicaid.
- Patients Will Face Longer Travel Times And Wait Times In Emergency Rooms. With Republicans gutting Medicaid and hundreds of hospitals in the crosshairs, more Americans will be further from the care they need. Waiting rooms will fill up with patients from closed hospitals, and everyone will face longer wait times at the emergency room since millions more uninsured Americans will lack the health care they need to see a primary care doctor for their conditions.
- Maternity Care Deserts Will Expand Across The Country. Rural hospitals rely on Medicaid funding to keep their doors open. Thanks to Republicans in Congress, states will be forced to cut back on how much they pay hospitals, putting more moms at risk of losing access to care at a time when 35 percent of counties already lack birthing hospitals and birth centers.
- Rural Economies Will Be Devastated. Hospitals employ 10 percent of all employees in rural counties that report having any hospital employment. When rural hospitals close, communities can lose a staggering number of jobs, both within and outside of the health care sector. The closure of one rural hospital can eliminate 220 jobs immediately.
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