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ashoup
In Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: 16 Million Americans Will Lose Their Health Care Under the GOP Tax Scam

The Republican Big, Terrible Bill Is Getting Worse By the Day

Republicans have supercharged their plan to kick millions of working families off health care in order to hand out tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. Thanks to their last-minute changes, an additional 2 million Americans will lose their health coverage in order to pay for a bill that now gives even more massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and large corporations and adds trillions to the federal deficit on the backs of hard-working families. The Congressional Budget Office is now estimating that the Republicans will cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would throw 16 million Americans off their coverage, and increase the uninsured rate by 50 percent. Trump’s big, ugly bill encompasses the largest cuts to Medicaid and the ACA in history; the GOP plan will destroy our health care system and cause devastation to millions of Americans. This level of estimated coverage loss hasn’t been seen since the 2017 ACA repeal effort, and it threatens the livelihoods of seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. It’s time for Republicans in the Senate to prove where they stand: with billionaires or with everyday Americans.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Republican reconciliation package:

  • Rips health care away from 16 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and large corporations.
  • Cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA to pay for handouts to the wealthiest Americans.
  • Hikes premiums for over 24 million Americans, including rural Americans, small business owners, and middle-class families.
  • Guts over $150 billion in critical funding for hospitals, which will shutter facilities, forcing more Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency rooms, and face longer wait times. 
  • Generates over $600 billion in funding for tax breaks for the rich by making it harder than ever for working families to get the health care they need.
  • Demands $8.2 billion in new health care payments from families who are already struggling.
  • Contains a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies that will drive up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.

The Policies Underlying The Biggest Loss of Health Care in American History: The following policies underlie the biggest loss of health care in American history and will kick millions off their coverage, drive premiums through the roof, increase costs for families struggling to get by, raise drug prices for seniors, and make it harder for families to get covered and stay covered.

  1. Executes The Largest Cuts To Medicaid In History. Republicans are taking away Medicaid so they can give away tax breaks to billionaires, regardless of what they call it. Whether they do it through devastating cuts to federal funding or the addition of burdensome bureaucratic reporting measures known as work requirements, they will have the same result: taking away Medicaid from people who are counting on it. 
    • Includes billions in cuts to Medicaid Expansion funding to over a dozen states. Republicans are punishing states with cuts to funding for Medicaid expansion. In doing so, Republicans are putting the health care of nearly 12 million Americans across 14 states at risk in the crosshairs of the Republican war on immigrants, including children. States like Illinois stand to lose the most from this policy, where nearly 1 million Illinoisans rely on Medicaid expansion for health care, and the state is required to repeal the program altogether without full federal funding. The reduction in Medicaid expansion funding may also force over 60 rural hospitals across the states affected to close, including in Minnesota, Vermont, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, California, and New York.
    • Takes away critical financial incentives for states to expand Medicaid, leaving millions of low-income families across the country with nowhere to turn for health care. 10 states have yet to fully expand Medicaid: Georgia, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Yet, at a time when people are struggling to afford the cost of living and facing economic uncertainty, Republicans are ripping away the possibility of health coverage from millions in these states. States without Medicaid expansion require that some families earn as little as $4,130 a year in order to qualify for Medicaid. 
    • Limits the ways states fund Medicaid, including provider taxes and state directed payments, which will shutter struggling hospitals and make it nearly impossible for states to manage the burden of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history without kicking millions off their coverage and taking away benefits.
  2. Hikes Premiums For Over 24 Million Americans. Republicans are ending tax credits for working families, raising costs, and ripping away health care from millions of Americans. If Republicans take away these tax credits, they’ll be taking away health care. Costs will skyrocket by an average of $2,400 for millions of families, and 5 million people will lose their health care altogether. Republicans are going to raise costs on middle-class families while they hand out tax breaks to the very rich and biggest corporations. Families will pay up to 90 percent more for their health care, while billionaires and CEOs will get another huge tax break. 
  3. Adds Wasteful Paperwork Requirements Designed To Throw Millions of Eligible Americans Off Their Health Care To Pay For Tax Breaks For The Wealthy And Corporations. Work requirements are nothing more than purposely burdensome paperwork designed to kick nearly 5 million people off the rolls to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. Taking away Medicaid doesn’t help people find jobs. In fact, Medicaid helps people stay employed, and making unemployed people sicker makes it more difficult for them to find work, especially in this tough economy. A government bureaucrat shouldn’t get to decide if someone is “too able-bodied” for health care. People with conditions like severe pain, fatigue, or mental illness may not qualify as “disabled enough” to be exempted from work requirements. Work reporting requirements have been a colossal waste of money in every state that has implemented them and have been shown to increase paperwork but not job growth.
  4. Increases Health Care Costs For Families Struggling To Get By. Republicans are raising health care costs by demanding $8 billion in new copayments from millions of hardworking families who rely on ACA Medicaid expansion, families who likely already struggle to make ends meet. In addition, the GOP proposal includes a formula change that would increase premiums by an additional $313 a year for the typical family purchasing insurance on their own. It would also allow insurance companies to impose an additional $900 in deductibles and other cost-sharing on families with any private health insurance, including people with employer-based insurance. The proposal also removes regulations requiring private insurers to offer high-quality coverage by allowing them to cover as little as 66% of costs while retaining “Silver” plan status. With this bill, Republicans will increase out-of-pocket costs for middle- and low-income families, while making it easier for insurance companies to rip off Americans.
  5. Drives Up Prescription Drug Costs And Pads Big Pharma’s Profits. Republicans are slipping a huge giveaway to Big Pharma into a reconciliation package already loaded with tax breaks for CEOs and greedy corporations like drug companies, meaning Big Pharma’s multimillion-dollar investments at Mar-a-Lago are paying off big time. Their scheme to exempt drugs that treat rare diseases from negotiation creates a major loophole for drug companies to exploit to continue padding their profits and price-gouging the seniors who rely on these drugs.
  6. Makes It Harder For Families To Get Covered And Stay Covered. Republicans are codifying key parts of the 2025 Marketplace Sabotage rule proposed by CMS in March into law. This rule is estimated to kick 2 million people off their Marketplace coverage, increase premiums for millions of people, and make enrolling in a plan more difficult. These changes will make it harder for families to enroll in ACA plans by shortening the enrollment period and taking away low-income families’ ability to sign up for coverage outside of the six-week enrollment period. These policies establish more paperwork burdens for enrolling and proving eligibility for tax credits and targets vulnerable communities that have historically faced barriers to accessing health care.
ashoup
In News, Report, Research

NEW REPORT: Medicaid Coverage Is at Risk for Millions in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Community

The GOP Scheme Will Raise Costs and Rip Coverage Away from AANPHI Communities  

Read the Full Report Here.

Washington, D.C.— To wrap up this Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, Protect Our Care is releasing a report bringing attention to how the GOP spending bill raises costs and rips away people’s health care so Republicans can fund tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations. Medicaid is the largest health insurance program in the country, providing health care for over 70 million Americans, including 4.5 million AANHPIs. 

This Republican spending bill will rip health care away from millions of American seniors, children, middle- and low-income families, people with disabilities, people fighting cancer, and so many more. Not only does it include the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, it all but dismantles the ACA by enacting massive funding cuts, new rules and restrictions, and eliminating enhanced premium tax credits. For people of color, the loss of coverage would be catastrophic, taking away access to essential care and exacerbating health inequities.

“Republicans are turning their backs on the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Community by dismantling American health care,” said Protect Our Care Policy and Health Equity Senior Advisor Joi Chaney. “Between slashing Medicaid and taking away health care tax credits, Republicans continue to put profits over people and line the pockets of their wealthy friends. Unfortunately, the ones to pay the price are everyday Americans who will no longer be able to afford life-saving care and coverage. This GOP spending bill will destroy the health and well-being of people from all walks of life.”

ashoup
In Fact Sheet, Research

Republican Premium Hikes Will Raise Health Care Costs for Everyone

Small Business Owners, Middle Class Families, And Rural Communities Will Be Among The Hardest Hit By Republican Premium Hikes

Republicans are raising health care costs for millions of Americans by taking away critical tax credits from working families. Countless families are one health care bill away from bankruptcy, but Republicans are planning to increase their health care costs even more. Republicans are doubling health care premiums for millions of families, which will result in an estimated 5 million Americans losing their coverage altogether. Under Republicans’ plan, families will pay up to 90 percent more for their health care, while billionaires and CEOs will get another huge tax break. Democrats are fighting to stop Republican premium hikes. As of January 2025, a record 24.2 million Americans are enrolled in quality, affordable coverage because of the tax credits passed by Democrats in Congress without a single Republican vote – more than twice as many people with insurance as when Trump held office. 

The bottom line: Americans cannot afford Republican premium hikes. Every family should be able to afford health coverage, regardless of their zip code or income. Because of Republicans, health insurance premium hikes will be announced this summer, and starting in January 2026, tens of millions of people who buy coverage on their own will see their premiums skyrockets and millions will become uninsured, including self-employed Americans, small business owners, people living in high-cost rural areas, farmers, people with pre-existing conditions, older adults, and more. Here are some of the groups who will be hit the hardest:

  1. Middle Class Families Will Pay Thousands More For Health Care. Thanks to Republicans, families of four making about $125,000 each year will lose the premium tax credits that made their health care affordable and be forced to pay an average of $18,300 each year in premiums, an increase of over $7,500 per year.
  2. Small Business Owners Will Lose Access To Affordable Health Care. Small business owners and sole proprietors often rely on ACA Marketplace plans for affordable, quality coverage. 82 percent of small business owners and self-employed workers enrolled in Marketplace coverage rely on premium tax credits to afford health care. Self-employed Americans make up nearly 4 in 10 of those who will lose affordable health care under GOP plans.
  3. Rural Americans Will Go Without Affordable Options. Premiums are known to be higher in rural counties than suburban and urban counties, making tax credits especially essential to rural Americans having affordable health care. The tax credits made it possible for 65 percent of uninsured rural Americans to have access to zero-dollar premium health plans, and more than 76 percent are able to find a plan for less than $50 a month. If Republicans have their way, the divide between rural and urban America will grow wider. Farm states will be especially hard hit: nearly all Marketplace enrollees in farm states receive a tax credit, which reduces their monthly premiums by an average of over $500, and many farmers stand to lose some or all of their tax credits if enhanced premiums are not extended. 
  4. Early Retirees Will Struggle To Afford Health Care. More than half of the adults who will lose premium tax credits under Republican plans are between the ages of 50 and 64, an age group that disproportionately experiences hiring discrimination and may have been forced into early retirement by economic conditions. Over 5 million Americans ages 55 to 64 enrolled in Marketplace coverage in 2024. Thanks to Republicans, premiums will increase by an average of $17,511 for a 60-year-old couple making $80,000 a year.
  5. Young People Will Go Without Health Insurance. Republicans are removing the tax credits that made it possible for 63 percent of uninsured young adults to have access to zero-dollar premium health coverage and more than 75 percent able to find a plan for less than $50 a month. By raising costs on young Americans, Republicans will force an estimated 2.8 million younger Americans out of their Marketplace coverage. 
  6. Uninsurance Rates Among People Of Color Will Skyrocket. Thanks to the enhanced premium tax credits, more than 65 percent of uninsured Black adults are eligible for zero-dollar premium plans and 75 percent are eligible for plans less than $50 a month. More than 68 percent of uninsured Latino adults are eligible for zero dollar premium plans and nearly 80 percent can access plans for less than $50 a month. Because of the Republican premium hike, the percentage of uninsured could return to the double digits for both groups.
ashoup
In Fact Sheet

FACT SHEET: Trump’s Crusade Against The ACA Continues With Renewed Attacks On The Law In His Second Term

Since its passage 15 years ago, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has become the bedrock of American health care, with millions relying on its coverage and protections. But undoing the ACA and its protections for over 100 million people with pre-existing conditions has been one of Donald Trump’s core fixations since announcing his presidential campaign ten years ago. He spearheaded a failed attempt to repeal and replace the law in 2017, supported efforts to overturn it in court, and spent his first term working to undermine the ACA at every turn by ending outreach, limiting enrollment, and promoting plans circumventing the law. Now in his second term, Trump has picked up right where he left off in 2020, working overtime to revoke Biden-era executive protections, slash outreach, and limit enrollment once again. But he isn’t stopping there. This time, he is determined to target the law’s core features – including Medicaid expansion and free coverage for preventive services like vaccines – and is even working to gut the very agency that ensures the ACA is properly administered, implemented, and enforced. The Trump-led plan to gut health care will only take us backward and throw the entire health care system into chaos.

The Second Trump Administration’s First Executive Actions Have Targeted the ACA. The second Trump administration has relentlessly targeted the ACA’s consumer protections and health care coverage provisions that provide affordable care to millions of Americans. In January 2025, within days of retaking office, Trump revoked a Biden administration order that prioritized protecting and strengthening the Affordable Care Act by pushing federal agencies to extend enrollment periods and dedicate extra funding for the third-party Navigators that help people enroll in ACA insurance. Trump also revoked a Biden administration executive order that aimed to lower prescription drug costs for people on Medicaid – including those enrolled thanks to Medicaid expansion – by analyzing new payment models.

The Trump Administration Is Gutting ACA Enrollment Outreach. In February, the Trump administration officially cut nearly 90 percent of ACA Navigator funding, mirroring a similar move in 2017 that coincided with a dramatic reduction in ACA Marketplace enrollment throughout the first Trump administration. On March 1, the White House unilaterally designated English as the official language of the U.S., rescinding requirements that government entities provide language assistance to individuals who do not speak English. Although the order does not direct agencies to change existing policies or programs, the action could limit outreach to consumers seeking health care with limited English proficiency.

The Trump Administration Is Working To Curb ACA Enrollment By Shorting The Enrollment Period, Imposing New Requirements, and Barring ‘Dreamers’ From Marketplaces. In March, the administration announced new rules designed to significantly curb enrollment by shortening the enrollment period, taking away low-income families’ ability to sign up for coverage outside of the six-week enrollment period, imposing more paperwork burdens for enrolling and proving eligibility for tax credits, and barring immigrants with ‘Dreamer’ status from enrolling in ACA Marketplace plans. In 2017, the Trump administration similarly halved the duration of Open Enrollment, reducing the period from three months to just 45 days.

The Trump Administration Is Slashing The Federal Workforce Overseeing Open Enrollment. Trump and Elon Musk are working to cut the bureaucratic apparatus that ensures that the ACA continues to be enforced and implemented without interruption. They fired around 1,900 probationary workers from the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Trump administration hinted they could fire as many as 5,200.

The Trump Administration Endorsed Plans To Cut ACA Medicaid Expansion Funding. In February, President Trump endorsed a budget resolution later passed by House Republicans that included budget cuts of nearly $1 trillion – a threshold that would require cuts to Medicaid. One of the proposed cuts includes reducing the federal match rate for Medicaid expansion under the ACA, which would force states to spend more than 25 percent more to foot the bill to the tune of nearly $50 billion. Reducing the federal match rate would threaten state budgets and would even end Medicaid expansion automatically in states with “trigger laws” designed to rescind Medicaid expansion if the federal match rate drops below a certain level.

The Trump Administration Is Targeting Services Covered Under the ACA. The Trump administration is undermining preventive services covered through the ACA by postponing the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting – which offers guidance on vaccine approvals and influences which shots insurers are required to cover under the ACA. Additionally, new rules introduced by the Trump administration in March include a ban on ACA Marketplace insurers covering gender-affirming care as an essential health benefit.

ashoup
In News, Research

GREED WATCH: As Trump Conspires With Drugmakers to Raise Costs on Americans, Records Show Massive 2024 Earnings

Drugmakers Raked in $610 Billion in 2024, Spent $90 Billion Rewarding Shareholders, And Sued The Government To Rip Off Seniors For Even More Profit

View the Report as a PDF Here.

Later today, just months after treating them to dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump is scheduled to meet with chief executives representing big drug companies – including the head of top lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which is still fighting in court to ban Medicare from negotiating drug prices and hike costs for millions of seniors and families. At a time when drug companies are cutting checks to shareholders rather than making their products more affordable to patients, Republicans are looking out for these greedy corporations at the expense of Americans.

Not only does Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress want to ban Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices, but they are trying to increase costs for seniors and taxpayers, and line the pockets of big drug companies at a time when the majority of Americans believe Congress should make it a “top priority” to expand negotiations – not repeal them. 

BY THE NUMBERS

  • We followed the 2024 earnings reports of 13 publicly-traded drug companies that have reported 2024 results and have drugs selected for negotiation in round 1 or round 2.
  • These 13 companies reported $610 billion in total global revenue and have announced dividend payments and stock buybacks totaling $90 billion.
  • The ten publicly held companies currently suing to ban Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices reported $480 billion in revenue. Those same companies reported shareholder compensation in the form of stock buybacks and dividends totaling $67 billion.

In 2024, 13 drug companies with products selected for price negotiation by Medicare reported $610 billion in earnings, a figure that is higher than the gross domestic product (GDP) of 88 percent of the countries in the world. This eye-popping revenue reflects the record-high prices drug companies set for drugs they launched in 2024, and overall prices that are three times higher for U.S. patients than for patients in other high-income countries. 

For too long, drug companies have been allowed to charge whatever they want, gouging patients to the point that 1 in 3 Americans report cutting pills or skipping doses because they can’t afford their medication. Fortunately, Democrats passed a law to lower drug costs for people on Medicare, including by finally allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of patients. 

Research establishes that pharmaceutical manufacturers could lose $1 trillion in revenue over a decade and still be the most profitable industry, yet big drug companies claim the new Medicare drug price negotiation program threatens their ability to invest in bringing innovative drugs to market. However, in the years following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, drug companies increased investment in bringing new drugs to market through higher spending on research and development. While drug companies increased their research and development budgets, they also rewarded their shareholders handsomely. Amgen, NovoNordisk, Novartis, and Teva spent more lining the pockets of shareholders than on their research and development budgets. 

Table 1: 2024 Big Drug Company Earnings and Spending

Spotlight on Medicare Negotiation: Drug Companies Suing to Block Medicare from Negotiating Lower Prices Reported Over $480 Billion in Revenue and Spent $67 Billion on Shareholders

In 2024, the ten publicly held companies that are currently suing (either directly, through a subsidiary, or through a trade organization) to ban Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices reported over $480 billion dollars in revenue. Those same companies reported shareholder compensation in the form of stock buybacks and dividends totaling $67 billion – more than the economies of Monaco, Iceland, and Albania combined. 

  • Novartis, the manufacturer of Entresto, reported $50.3 billion in revenue and spent $15.9 billion on shareholder compensation. 
  • Johnson and Johnson, which manufactures three of the ten drugs with lower prices being negotiated – Xarelto, Stelara, and Imbruvica – made $88.8 billion in revenue and spent $14.2 billion on shareholder compensation.
  • Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic/Wegovy/Rybelsus and Fiasp/NovoLog, far exceeded even their earnings expectations, bringing in $40.5 billion and spending $9.9 billion on shareholder compensation. 
  • Eli Lilly, which manufactures Jardiance and Tradjenta, made $45 billion in revenue and spent $7.4 billion on stock buybacks and dividends for shareholders.
  • AstraZeneca, the manufacturer of Calquence and Farxiga, raked in $54.1 billion in revenue and spent $4.6 billion on shareholder compensation. 
  • GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which manufactures Trelegy Ellipta and Breo Ellipta, reported $39.4 billion in revenue and spent $3 billion on stock buybacks. 
  • Amgen, which manufactures Otezla and Enbrel, reported $33.4 billion in revenue while spending $5 billion on investors. 
  • Bristol Myers Squibb, which manufactures Pomalyst and Eliquis, raked in $48.3 billion and spent $4.9 billion on shareholder compensation.
  • Teva, the manufacturer of Austedo, reported $16.5 billion in revenue and spent $1.4 billion on stock buybacks and dividends. 
ashoup
In News, Report, Research

NEW REPORT: The Republican War on Health Care: Medicaid Cuts for Millions, Tax Cuts for the Ultra-Wealthy

Protect Our Care Releases New Report Detailing the Republican War on Health Care Threatening More Than 70 Million Americans Who Depend on Medicaid

Read the Report Here

Washington, DC – Today, Protect Our Care is releasing a new report detailing how Republicans are trying to gut Medicaid in order to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations. In recent weeks, Republican lawmakers have reignited their call for cuts to Medicaid, which would have a devastating impact on millions of families across the nation. 

Medicaid is the largest health insurance program in the country, providing health care to more than 70 million Americans. Cuts to the program would mean ripping away health care from millions of families who count on it, including kids, moms, seniors, people of color, rural Americans, workers whose employers don’t provide health insurance, and people with disabilities. The consequences of any cuts to Medicaid would touch nearly every household in America.

“Republicans are reigniting their war on health care by putting Medicaid on the chopping block in order to fund more tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Medicaid is an essential pillar of our health care system that covers more than 70 million Americans, but Republicans are hellbent on pushing through their extreme and out-of-touch agenda that would rip away health care from millions of families who count on it. We’ve seen these threats from Trump and his allies in Congress before, and we must do whatever it takes to stand up to these dangerous attacks on our health care system that would devastate millions of families across the country.”

Protect Our Care has launched a multi-million dollar “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign to sound the alarm on Republicans working to slash Medicaid funding to pay for another round of tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. The campaign will feature every possible tactic to block any effort to slash this vital health care program, including paid advertising, advocacy and earned media activities, and more.

By The Numbers

  • Republicans will create a $50 billion hole in state Medicaid budgets to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. 
  • If Republicans decrease federal funding for people in the Medicaid expansion population, it would immediately rip health care away from 4 million Americans across twelve states and jeopardize health care for about 21 million people.
  • Republicans threaten care for 18.5 million people on Medicaid by imposing lifetime caps.
  • Republicans could deny coverage to 36 million Americans through burdensome bureaucratic reporting requirements.
ashoup
In News, Fact Sheet, Research

Fact Sheet: RFK Jr. Spread Conspiracy That Lyme Disease Came From a Military Bioweapon

In recent weeks, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been on a whirlwind tour attempting to convince the public and the Senate that he is right for the job of Secretary of Health & Human Services. However, Kennedy’s embrace of nutty medical misinformation and conspiracy theories, combined with his empty resumé, makes it clear that he is utterly unqualified to run HHS and would be an unmitigated disaster for American health care. 

One of his lesser-known conspiracy theories involves a wildly outlandish set of beliefs surrounding Lyme disease. He has claimed that the tick-borne illness is a military bioweapon and blamed vaccine research for creating the disease. There is still no vaccine for Lyme disease, in part due to the same misinformation pushed by Kennedy about vaccines supposedly causing the illness. Lyme disease is a serious illness with cases primarily concentrated in New England that impacts nearly 500,000 people every year. The disease can lead to distressing and even disabling symptoms in 10 to 20 percent of cases, and reportedly has an annual cost of diagnosis and treatment totalling almost $1 billion. Kennedy’s bizarre stances about a serious disease that impacts thousands of Americans annually demonstrate the real threat he poses to public health.

Kennedy Spread A Conspiracy Theory Claiming That It Was “Highly Likely” That Lyme Disease Was A Military Bioweapon. During an episode of his podcast discussing Lyme disease, Kennedy launched into a tirade about the disease supposedly being a bioweapon: “Another thing that keeps us from enjoying the outdoors and keeps us locked inside and the idea that this may have been, is highly likely to have been a military weapon, and we cannot say 100 percent for sure, but we do know that they were experimenting with tics there. The tics, as you show, are an epidemic because of what happened at Plum Island and the other labs. […] We also know that they were experimenting with diseases of the kind, like Lyme disease, at that lab, and they were putting them in tics and then infecting people. 

  • Kennedy’s Bioweapon Conspiracy Theory Has Been Discredited. The conspiracy theory that Lyme disease was supposedly created by the U.S. military as a bioweapon has been thoroughly debunked.  The American Lyme Disease Foundation wrote, “Some claim that Lyme disease was introduced into the northeastern region of the U.S. by a man-made strain of Borrelia burgdorferi that escaped from a high containment biological warfare laboratory on Plum Island. However, there is ample evidence to indicate that both Ixodes ticks and B. burgdorferi were present in the U.S. well before the Plum Island facility was ever established.” According to a Washington Post op-ed written by infectious disease professor Sam Telford, “It’s an old conspiracy theory enjoying a resurgence with lots of sensational headlines and tweets. Even Congress has ordered that the Pentagon must reveal whether it weaponized ticks. And it’s not true.”

RFK Jr. Blamed Vaccine Gain-Of-Function Research For The Creation Of Lyme Disease. As Rolling Stone reported, Kennedy convened a panel of health misinformation advocates in 2023, during which they discussed the origins of infectious disease and their relationship to vaccines: “At one point, he baselessly asserted that vaccine research had been responsible for the creation of some of the deadliest diseases in human history, including HIV, the Spanish flu, and Lyme disease.” Kennedy reportedly also promised he would “end all gain-of-function research…It’s just a disaster, it’s given us no benefits. It’s given us everything from Lyme disease to Covid, and many many other diseases. RSV, which is now one of the biggest killers of children, came out of a vaccine lab.” 

  • The Previous Lyme Disease Vaccine Was Pulled In Part Because Of The Same Type of Misinformation Spread By Kennedy. Dr. Robert Smith of MaineHealth said that the previous Lyme disease vaccination, which was on the market in the mid-90s, was removed from the market in part because of misinformation that the vaccine caused the very disease it was intended to cure. According to the Portland Press Herald, “There were a number of reasons the previous human vaccine was removed from the market, Smith said, including misinformation that the vaccine caused Lyme disease, and that the disease had not reached the high number of cases now being reported, especially in the Northeast. Knight said the new vaccine will likely be more effective than the previous one, which was only on the market for a few years starting in the late 1990s.”

KEY STATES

Maine Has Among Highest Rates of Lyme Disease and Is The Site Of Ongoing Vaccine Trials And A Lyme Disease Study. According to the CDC, Maine has some of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the nation. There were 2,544 cases reported in the state by October 2024, nearing the state annual record of 2,943 cases in 2023. Maine was also a key state in vaccine trials and a large study of the disease. MaineHealth has been helping test a new version of the Lyme disease vaccine after the previous one was pulled from the market in the mid-90s. The manufacturer of this new vaccine, Pfizer, reportedly chose Maine as its site for clinical trials due to the state’s high rate of Lyme disease: “Pfizer has partnered with a Maine health care system to conduct the third phase of a Lyme disease clinical trial to test the efficacy of the company’s vaccine. The trial, held at Northern Light Health system in Brewer, will span over 13 months and require patients to take two shots two months apart. In March, the patients will need to take a booster shot before the next summer’s tick season, The Bangor Daily News reported last week. […] Li said Pfizer approached the hospital system about the clinical trial because Maine has one of the highest rates of Lyme disease infections in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Rhode Island Has The Highest Incidence Rate of Lyme Disease and Continues to Trend Upwards. Rhode Island has the highest incidence rate of Lyme disease in the country, with 212 cases per 100,000 in the state in 2022. The years of 2021 and 2022 marked a massive increase in reported Lyme disease diagnoses with 2,617 cases reported in 2021 and 2,904 cases in 2022. In 2023 that number fell slightly to 2,852 cases reported but now evidence has shown that 2024 may have been the largest jump in annual cases reported in the last decade. This past year a whopping 3,218 cases were reported, a nearly 13 percent increase in the span of only one year. Studies have shown that climate change and the warmer winters in Rhode Island has had a direct impact on the number of tick-borne illness reports. A supermajority of Americans support not only a vaccine for Lyme disease but also vaccinating their children against it; however, Republicans like RFK Jr. continue to promote conspiracy theories even as rarer tick-borne illnesses like Powassan virus are becoming more and more prevalent alongside Lyme disease diagnoses.

Connecticut is Where Lyme Disease was First Discovered and Remains the Leader in the Uphill Fight Against Both Anti-Vaxxers like RFK Jr. and the Disease Itself. Connecticut is in the top ten states when it comes to Lyme disease transmission. Between the years of 1985 and 2017, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) reported an average of 2,718 cases of Lyme disease annually with a high count of 4,631. This pales in comparison to new research coming from the CDC on underreporting problems, which suggests that potentially 10 times as many people in Connecticut, around 30,000, could be infected with Lyme disease annually. Recent studies have shown the tick population as well as the prevalence of tick-borne illnesses are on the rise in Connecticut, with climate change’s effects of shortening winters and longer summers playing a major role in this development. DPH has reported that 26.5 percent, more than one in four, of the ticks they’ve tested have come back positive for Lyme disease; on top of this there are now reports of “trifecta infections” from tick bites, with doctors seeing a massive increase in symptoms and diagnoses, including the first report of a human Rickettsia parkeri case. As anti-vaccine rhetoric and policy from Republicans like RFK Jr. continues to grow it is imperative to reject in order to continue and expand the fight against tick-borne illnesses.

Lyme Disease Is Skyrocketing In Massachusetts, With Over 5,000 Cases In 2022. Massachusetts is by far the most populous state in New England, with a high population density translating to a high risk for tick exposure in the state. Lyme disease cases in Massachusetts have been skyrocketing recently, with state health officials reporting over 5,000 cases in 2022. Though this rise was in part attributable to recent methodological changes and improved data collection, the new numbers reflect better disease surveillance in the state and paint a clear picture of the serious threat Lyme disease poses in Massachusetts.

New Hampshire Has A High Rate of Lyme Disease. New Hampshire has one of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the U.S., reporting 1,563 cases in 2021, an incidence rate of 112.5. The disease was rare until the past two decades, with less than 300 cases reported every year before 2006. Since then, the number of annual cases reported in New Hampshire has never dropped below 600.

Lyme Disease Rates Are Rising In Vermont As Ticks Spread North With Urban Development. Vermont has a high rate of Lyme disease, with an increasing rate of annual reported cases over the past 20 years. Tickborne illnesses were rare in the 1990s in Vermont, but as of 2019, Vermont’s 3-year average incidence rate for Lyme disease was the second-highest in the country. In 2022, 1,312 cases were reported. Around half of all ticks studied are pathogen-carrying in the state, and urban development in northern Vermont has reportedly expanded the tick population to new parts of the state.

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In News, Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: RFK Jr.’s Plans To Defund, Slash Jobs and Undermine the National Institutes of Health Would Be Disastrous For Americans

RFK Jr. Has Vowed to Fire and Prosecute Hundreds of NIH And FDA Employees and Pause All Research On Drug Development And Infectious Disease

It’s no secret Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) poses a huge threat to the top health institutions that keep Americans safe and healthy. As HHS Secretary, RFK Jr. would prioritize his own interests over the needs of the American people. Not only does he oppose lifesaving vaccinations, but he has also downplayed the severity of infectious diseases and plans to gut funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will halt the progress of essential research on lifesaving drug and vaccine development. 

The NIH is among the top medical research centers in the world. On top of the lifesaving research conducted by NIH, the research center also serves as the impetus behind a significant portion of the economy, both in the private and public sectors. Funding from the NIH contributed to 99.4 percent of all drugs approved in the U.S. from 2010 to 2019. The 50 states receive tens of billions in funding from NIH awards annually, and the research center supports nearly half a million jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity in the states. 

RFK Jr. has absolutely no place leading our health care system. Working families deserve access to affordable, high-quality health care and an HHS leader who trusts science and is committed to strengthening public health, not tearing it down.

BY THE NUMBERS

  • Researchers across the country received $37.81 billion in NIH awards in FY2023.
  • $92.89 billion in state economic activity is supported by NIH funding, reflecting a 2.46x return on investment.
  • NIH grants directly support 412,041 American jobs. Nearly 2.3 million Americans are employed by around 150,000 businesses in the American bioscience industry.
  • Thousands of top universities, hospitals, research institutes, and biopharmaceutical companies are supported by NIH funding.

The NIH Funds Critical, Lifesaving Drug Research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) contributes billions to critical drug research and development throughout the U.S. A study of 356 drugs approved by the FDA between 2010 and 2019 found that the NIH contributed funding to all but two of the drugs – 99.4 percent of the drugs included in the study, and every single new drug approved between 2010 and 2016, with funding totaling $187 billion. The study also found that spending from the NIH on drug research and development was not less than industry spending, demonstrating the vast scale and influence of the NIH in the pharmaceutical industry.

The NIH Is A Key Source of Economic Activity. Beyond prescription drug research, NIH funding is a massive generator of economic activity in the U.S. In FY2023 alone, researchers across the country were awarded $37.81 billion in NIH grants. In turn, $92.89 billion in state economic activity is supported by NIH funding – reflecting a 2.46x return on investment, or $2.46 in economic activity generated for every dollar awarded by the NIH. The NIH directly funds 412,041 American jobs, and nearly 2.3 million Americans are employed by around 150,000 businesses in the American bioscience industry overall. In addition, thousands of top universities, hospitals, research institutes, and biopharmaceutical companies are supported by NIH funding.

Kennedy Says He Will Pause All Research On Drug Development And Infectious Disease. At a June 2024 town hall meeting Kennedy said, “I’m going to go to NIH my first week and I’m going to call all the division heads and I’m going to call all the bureau chiefs and I’m going to say, we’re going to give drug development and infectious disease a break. A little break, a little bit of a break for about eight years.” These remarks echo what he told an anti-vaccine conference in November 2023, when he said, “I’m gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all. Thank you for [your] public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.” Kennedy has also claimed that he will go after medical journals and redirect funding away from epidemiology, a practice that seeks to prevent and control the spread of disease. 

Kennedy Has Vowed to Fire and Prosecute Hundreds of NIH And FDA Employees. Kennedy claims to have a list of 600 employees of the NIH that he plans to fire on day one. Before the 2024 election, Kennedy posted on social media, “FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma. If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.” During a “Make America Healthy Again” event in October 2024, Kennedy also said he would fire every nutritional scientist at the FDA “on day 1,” claiming he would otherwise “ship them to a new HHS headquarters in Guam” if unable to fire them. Kennedy has threatened to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci and he claimed that he would eliminate “entire departments” and hundreds of employees at the FDA.

Kennedy: “I Do Not Believe That Infectious Disease Is An Enormous Threat To Human Health.” At a 2023 roundtable, Kennedy said he does “not believe that infectious disease is an enormous threat to human health.” Kennedy also claimed that “medical research on these diseases and vaccine research has created some of the worst plagues in our history” and baselessly asserted that vaccine research was responsible for the creation of HIV, the Spanish flu, Lyme, and RSV.

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In News, Report, Research

NEW REPORT: Misinformation Kills: RFK Jr’s Deadly Visit To Samoa

Foreword by Hawaii Governor Josh Green

Read the Report Here.

Washington, D.C. — Today, Protect Our Care is releasing a new national report with a foreword from Hawaii Governor Josh Green. The report details Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s role in the deadly measles outbreak in Samoa and the danger he poses to the health and well-being of millions of Americans if confirmed as the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In 2019, RFK Jr. visited the island nation of Samoa to spread anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, which led to the deaths of 83 people, primarily infants and children. To this day, he refuses to take responsibility and continues to oppose lifesaving vaccines, saying he “does not believe that infectious disease is an enormous threat to human health.”

RFK Jr. is unqualified and holds dangerous anti-science and anti-vaccination policy positions, ready to put his personal interests ahead of the health and safety of the American people. Under his leadership, more people will get sick and die – especially children. 

“As a firsthand witness of the tragedy in Samoa, I am certain that the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would be devastating for the health of the American people,” said Hawaii Governor Josh Green. “Vaccine misinformation is deadly, period. For years, Kennedy has fueled misinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccinations and other public health measures that keep people safe. He is unfit to lead our nation’s health care system.”

“What RFK Jr. did to Samoa he will do to America. RFK Jr. poses a life-or-death threat to millions of Americans if confirmed as HHS Secretary,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “RFK Jr. has said that ‘no vaccine is safe and effective.’ His opposition to vaccines will lead to a resurgence of deadly childhood diseases like polio and measles. He supports defunding lifesaving research that is used to develop treatments and cures for diseases. RFK Jr. rejects proven science that keeps people healthy and if he is put in a position like HHS secretary, the damage would be catastrophic.”

Timeline of Events:

2018

  • Two children in Samoa died after receiving their MMR vaccine as a result of nurses improperly mixing the vaccines with a liquid muscle relaxant instead of water. The nurses were sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter.
  • RFK Jr’s Children’s Health Defense posted on Facebook questioning the safety of measles vaccines.
  • The World Health Organization estimated that in 2018, only 31 percent of infants in Samoa received the measles vaccine, a drop from 60 to 70 percent in previous years.
  • RFK Jr’s Children’s Health Defense never updated the public about the true cause of the babies’ deaths.

2019

  • While vaccination rates were dropping, Kennedy traveled to Samoa in June 2019, meeting with the Prime Minister and other government officials. The trip had been arranged by a prominent Samoan anti-vaccine activist, and paid for by Children’s Health Defense. RFK Jr. appeared with government officials and local anti-vaccine activists.
  • The measles outbreak began in September 2019.
  • A state of emergency was declared in November 2019, closing all schools, keeping children under 17 away from public events, and mandating vaccines.
  • The anti-vaccine activists with ties to Kennedy used misinformation and harsh rhetoric to oppose the government’s efforts in containing the outbreak.
  • By January 22, 2020, 5,707 measles cases and 83 measles-related deaths were reported. 87 percent of the reported deaths were children younger than 5 years.
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In News, Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: Five Ways Republicans Are Planning To Gut Medicaid

The GOP war on Medicaid is alive and well. Republicans are targeting Medicaid for deep budget cuts as part of a reconciliation bill coming early next year in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Medicaid is an essential pillar of our health care system. It is the largest health insurance program in the country, providing health care to more than 70 million Americans — nearly a quarter of the country. Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and the states, and it is supported by 76 percent of Americans. It covers one in five Americans, including kids, moms, seniors, people of color, rural Americans, and people with disabilities. 

Five key ways Republicans could cut federal Medicaid funding and leave millions of Americans uninsured and unable to afford health care include: imposing lifetime caps on coverage, slashing the federal matching rate for traditional Medicaid and Medicaid expansion, implementing bureaucratic reporting requirements, block granting Medicaid, and introducing per capita caps. All of these policies mean that millions would lose their coverage, state budgets would be strained, and rural hospitals would be more likely to close. Every family knows someone who counts on Medicaid. If MAGA Republicans get their way, Medicaid will be decimated — taking health care away from hardworking families across the country all to pay for more tax breaks for the wealthy. 

By The Numbers

  • Republican threats to Medicaid put health care at risk for 72 million (21 percent) of Americans including:
  • Republicans will create at least a $50 billion hole in state Medicaid budgets to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. 
  • If Republicans decrease federal funding for people in the Medicaid expansion population, it would immediately rip health care away from over 4.2 million Americans across 12 states and jeopardize health care for about 21 million people.
  • Republicans threaten care for 18.5 million people on Medicaid by imposing lifetime caps.
  • Republicans could deny coverage to 36 million Americans through burdensome bureaucratic reporting requirements.

Five Ways The GOP Plans To Gut Medicaid

  1. The GOP Will Impose Lifetime Caps For People On Medicaid. Republicans want to enact the Project 2025 playbook by imposing lifetime caps for people on Medicaid. Proposals have suggested people remain eligible for just 36 months, potentially over their entire lifetime. If enacted, the Center For American Progress found that these caps would strip benefits from hardworking families and people with complex medical conditions, particularly in states that have not expanded Medicaid, endangering coverage for the 18.5 million people with Medicaid who qualify based on income alone.
  2. Republicans Want To Slash Federal Funding for Medicaid By Reducing the Amount of Federal Funding That Matches State Medicaid Funding. As part of their plans to slash spending, Republicans could achieve their longtime goal of eliminating federal funding for Medicaid expansion and decreasing funding for traditional Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act provided for states to expand Medicaid eligibility by offering matching federal funds as an incentive. Some recent proposals have suggested lowering the federal match rate to 90 percent or lower, which would create a $50 billion hole in state Medicaid budgets. Research shows Medicaid expansion improves people’s health, keeps hospitals open, increases families’ financial security, and saves lives – and, in turn, helps reduce racial and ethnic, rural, and other health disparities. As of 2024, 41 states (including DC) have expanded Medicaid under the ACA. However, 12 of these states – Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia, and Utah – have a trigger law, which means that health care will be at risk or immediately be ripped away from 4,291,000 people across the country if the GOP succeeds in gutting funding for Medicaid expansion.
  3. Republicans Want To Impose Burdensome Bureaucratic Reporting Requirements. Several recent Republican budget proposals have included plans to introduce bureaucratic work reporting requirements as a mandatory part of Medicaid enrollment and verification. By imposing work reporting requirements, Republicans are only seeking to cut Medicaid and kick millions of people off the rolls. Research shows that work reporting requirements cost states money and do not improve people’s ability to find work. In Georgia, a GOP alternative to Medicaid expansion emphasizing work requirements cost taxpayers $26 million, only provided coverage to 3,500 people, and resulted in consulting firms pocketing 90 percent of the funding. If Republicans succeed in implementing work reporting requirements, up to 21 million Americans could be denied Medicaid coverage.
  4. Republicans Want To Radically Restructure Medicaid Through Block Grants, Resulting In Deep Cuts. Another way MAGA Republicans want to radically restructure Medicaid is by changing it into five block grants. In March, the Republican Study Committee released a proposal to do just that. Block grants would shift costs to states and inevitably result in deep cuts to Medicaid programs by capping the amount of federal Medicaid funding states receive. As CBPP found in 2017, a block grant would force states to make deep cuts to their Medicaid programs to compensate for the federal funding cuts. Currently, the federal government pays between 50 percent and 77 percent of enrollees’ Medicaid costs, and more for certain high-value services. Republicans’ proposals to slash billions in federal funding from Medicaid would strain state budgets and leave tens of millions of people uninsured.
  5. Republicans Want To Introduce Per Capita Caps For Medicaid, Shifting Costs To States. Past Republican budget proposals have established a per capita cap for states on Medicaid enrollment. This type of spending cap imposes a restriction on the amount the federal government will contribute per capita to states’ Medicaid budgets. The proposals also increase the amount states must contribute to their Medicaid programs. In practice, per capita caps only increase costs for Medicaid beneficiaries – often in the form of higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs, all but ensuring that even if one qualifies for Medicaid, the services may not be affordable. It also means Medicaid would not have the flexibility to take on an influx of new patients during public health emergencies.
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