In recent weeks, the Trump administration has been quietly maximizing the fallout of the health care crisis they created with Republicans in Congress. Having already gutted $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and eliminated tax credits for hardworking families to fund tax breaks for billionaires, the administration has buried some of its most harmful policies in pages of bureaucratic red tape and complex regulations. These policies will raise costs, increase barriers to care, and force even more Americans off their health coverage. The cruelty is intentional, and so is the cover-up. Republicans know their health care agenda is deeply unpopular, so they’re doing everything they can to hide it from the public ahead of the midterms. Meanwhile, Democrats are fighting back, forcing a vote to overturn the administration’s latest ACA sabotage rule and shining a light on yet another Republican effort to raise costs and rip away health care from working families.
Trump’s regulations and proposals will fan the flames of the nationwide health care crisis.
Medicaid: Making Devastating Cuts Even Harder to Survive
Republicans already slashed $1 trillion from Medicaid. Now the Trump administration is using regulations to push even more Americans off their coverage, burying new barriers in bureaucratic red tape. From impossible paperwork requirements to rigid eligibility rules, the administration is making the Republican health care cuts even more draconian.
NPR: “People With Cancer or HIV Could Lose Medicaid Under New Work Rules, Advocates Say”
- “A coalition of 48 patient organizations wrote in a joint statement: “Our organizations are deeply concerned the interim final rule does not protect people with serious or complex health conditions and would instead dramatically and inappropriately increase the number of people who will lose their healthcare coverage.”
- “McIntyre and others foresee situations where a person newly diagnosed with cancer, who is working, loses Medicaid because they don’t fill out the paperwork correctly. That could lead to patients losing coverage when they need it most.”
Georgetown Center for Children and Families: “CMS Triples Harmful Impact of HR1 Medicaid Provider Cuts in State Directed Payment Proposed Rule”
- “CMS’s regulation relentlessly and systematically pushes far beyond the H.R. 1 legislation that CMS is actually charged with implementing, in order to institute even more draconian cuts to state Medicaid programs, health care providers, and ultimately people enrolled in Medicaid. A law that was already going to hurt state budgets, push some providers toward bankruptcy, and reduce access to care is being made three times worse. It’s hard not to interpret this as a reckless and lawless attempt to further slash Medicaid and gut the program.”
Politico: “How Sick Is Sick Enough? New Medicaid Work Rule Worries Patient Advocates, States”
- “Patient advocacy groups, physicians and state officials say they fear that chronically ill people, whose ability to work often fluctuates, will fall through the cracks and become uninsured at a time when they most need care.”
- “Doctors, patient advocates and state officials warn that many people are likely to lose Medicaid coverage whether states come up with an automatic process for evaluating these exemption requests — for example, by counting the number of medical services a person used over the last year — or leave it up to the judgment of individual physicians.”
Affordable Care Act: Sabotaging Coverage and Sticking Patients With the Bill
The Trump administration is quietly using complex ACA regulations to make coverage harder to get, funneling people into plans with sky-high deductibles with less coverage, and suggesting struggling patients take out a loan to pay for their care.
Healthcare Dive: “Cities Sue to Block ACA Rule for Increasing Uninsured Rate”
- “In May, the Trump administration finalized a rule that added more restrictions beginning in 2027 for those seeking to sign up for an ACA plan and expanded access to cheaper plans with high deductibles, dubbed catastrophic plans. It also required additional verification for low-income enrollees and those who sign up during special enrollment periods.”
- “‘This rule would create unnecessary barriers to coverage, increase costs, and put care further out of reach,’ Dr. Meenakshi Bewtra, president of Doctors for America, said in a statement.”
The New York Times: “Can’t Pay Medical Bills? Trump Administration Suggests Getting a Loan”
- “At a time when more than a third of American households already have some kind of medical debt, experts expressed dismay at the possibility of adding to the strained budgets of people already dealing with higher health care costs. ‘The last thing you want to do is to increase deductibles and load people up with more medical debt,’ said Neale Mahoney, an economist at Stanford University. ‘It seems to be hugely out of touch with where people are.’”
Drug Pricing: Handing Big Drug Companies Billions While Seniors Pay More
While Democrats fought to lower drug prices for seniors, the Trump administration is handing big drug companies billions in tax breaks and loopholes, undermining Medicare negotiations and allowing drug companies to keep prices high at the expense of patients and taxpayers.
Protect Our Care: “Latest Round of Medicare Negotiations Undermined by Trump’s Loopholes for Big Drug Companies”
- “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule that will enable big drug companies to avoid Medicare price negotiations on top-selling drugs, such as cancer drug Darzalex. While Trump has been cutting back-room deals with big drug companies and orchestrating loopholes in their interest, seniors across the country are struggling to afford their prescriptions. Now, seniors will see their drug prices soar because Trump decided to protect the profits of these uber-wealthy corporations over lowering drug costs for everyday Americans.”
BioPharma Dive: “Medicare Drug Price Rule May Target Under-the-Skin Keytruda and Opdivo”
- “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the rule would close a ‘loophole’ that allows drugmakers to extend the patent-protected life of blockbuster drugs, commonly called ‘evergreening.’ However, Medicare could exempt the newer formulation from its price ceiling should biosimilars of the IV version enter the market and compete on price.”
- “A wrinkle in the rule is that CMS also stated that drugs subject to biosimilar or generic competition can be ‘deselected’ from the program, and would apply to all formulations.”