Donald Trump and Republicans have passed the largest health care cuts in history, and now the nation is bracing for impact. Their budget bill is stripping health care from over 15 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, leading to higher bills and increased premiums for everyone. Every single congressional district will see an increase in uninsured individuals, with California, Florida, Texas, New York, and Illinois seeing the highest increase in uninsured rates.
Protect Our Care launched Accountability Autumn, a nationwide campaign calling out Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers for their health care disaster The campaign features the following theme weeks:
- September 2-7: Summer from Hell: Republicans Take Heat for Their War on Health Care
- September 8-14: Week of Action: Premium Disaster Watch
- September 15-21: The Trump-GOP Health Care Disaster: Ripping Coverage Away from Millions
- September 22-28: The Trump-GOP Health Care Disaster: Hospitals in Crisis
By The Numbers:
- GONE: Health insurance for over 15 million people thanks to Republicans’ budget bill.
- GONE: Medicaid coverage for 3 in 10 young adults aged 18 to 24.
- GONE: Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations including children and families, those living in small towns and rural areas, people with disabilities, low-income seniors on Medicare, veterans, and legal immigrants.
- GONE: Health insurance for an estimated 4.2 million people due to Republicans’ failure to extend premium tax credits.
- GONE: Health care for 5 million people with Medicaid due to administrative red tape created by Republicans’ mandatory work reporting requirements.
- GONE: Coverage for 1.2 million people with Medicaid because of limits on provider taxes.
- GONE: Medicaid coverage for 700,000 people thanks to additional paperwork required by the budget bill.
- GONE: Health care for 100,000 legal immigrants who qualify for Medicaid coverage due to the Republican bill eliminating key funding for CHIP and Medicaid.
Medicaid:
Cost Cuts to Fund Tax Breaks for the Rich. The cuts being made to Medicaid in the Republican bill are directly funding tax breaks for the uber wealthy. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that these cuts will result in 7.5 million people losing Medicaid coverage.
Work Reporting Requirements. The Big Ugly Bill imposes work reporting requirements to every American in the Medicaid expansion population. Work reporting requirements have been shown to be ineffective in helping people find jobs, obtain training, or overcome access barriers to maintaining employment. In reality, these requirements just create more bureaucratic red tape that prevent the very people Medicaid was intended to help from accessing health care. A majority of people in the Medicaid expansion population are also already working. 9 in 10 adults with health care coverage through Medicaid expansion are currently employed or meet work exemption criteria. According to the Urban Institute, implementing work reporting requirements will cause 5 million people to lose health care coverage through Medicaid expansion.
Coverage Cuts for Immigrants. Republicans’ bill also eliminates federal funding for CHIP and Medicaid programs for immigrants legally residing in the United States. This includes refugees, people granted asylum, and certain victims of domestic violence and sex or labor trafficking. By 2034, this will cause 100,000 people to become uninsured.
Administrative Red Tape. The Congressional Budget Office estimates another 700,000 people will lose their insurance due to new requirements that people have to prove their eligibility for Medicaid every 6 months as opposed to every year. Additional paperwork makes it difficult for people to correctly submit forms on time and creates more work for states, leading to failures to process paperwork.
Provider Tax Restrictions. The Big Ugly Bill also includes limits on provider taxes that nearly all expansion states use to help finance their Medicaid programs. These restrictions will cause another 1.2 million people to lose Medicaid coverage and become uninsured.
ACA Marketplaces:
Eliminating Premium Tax Credits. Republicans are ending tax credits for working families, raising costs for about 22 million, and ripping away health care from millions of Americans. Costs will skyrocket by an average of $700 for millions of families. Families will pay up to 90 percent more for their health care. Unable to absorb Republican cost hikes, around 4.2 million people will lose their health care altogether. While middle-class families face higher prices or lose their coverage, Republicans are giving tax breaks to the ultrarich and big corporations.