Trump and Republicans in Congress set in motion a health care crisis that has upended the lives of millions. They gutted $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, knowingly putting care at risk for seniors in nursing homes, sick kids, and moms, all to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. As a result, seniors like Jill from Pennsylvania are “furious and scared” after their monthly premiums more than doubled and are set to skyrocket again in 2027. Moms like Deborah from Georgia have “indefinitely” delayed retirement plans after her premiums soared from $63 to $1,200 a month. Providers like Melissa from Indiana are sounding the alarm, warning that “Medicaid cuts are killing” them, leading to mass layoffs and hospital closures throughout the Hoosier State.
Because of Republicans’ corrupt scheme, more than eight million Americans lost the coverage they relied on to see a doctor when they’re sick, unable to escape Jill’s deepest fear. Meanwhile, over 1,100 hospitals, nursing homes, and other critical providers like Melissa’s are shuttering, cutting services, or are at risk of closure or cuts. Republicans want to sweep their health care crisis under the rug, but with “Faces of the GOP Health Care Crisis,” voters can read the testimonies of more than 400 Americans reeling from premium hikes, hospital closures, and coverage loss.
Deborah Tolson, Alpharetta, Georgia
- “Deborah Tolson, based in Alpharetta, reported that her monthly health insurance premium in 2025 was $63 for three people: herself, her husband, and her daughter. As of January 2026, that same plan’s monthly premium reportedly increased to $1200—a 1,804% increase—for only her and her daughter. Her husband disenrolled from the plan and has been uninsured since January, since covering all three family members would have reportedly increased their monthly premium to over $2,000.”
- “‘All this stress for a basic plan,’ Mrs. Tolson reported, ‘which doesn’t even cover routine screenings, like colonoscopies or mammograms, with doctors in our area.’ Mrs. Tolson and her husband have ‘indefinitely’ delayed their retirement plans due to rising health care costs.” [Office of U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff]
Holly Personius and her husband, Paul Medlock, Atlanta, Georgia
- “Holly Personius and her husband, Paul Medlock, based in Atlanta, paid a monthly premium of $1,770.18 in 2025 for their Cigna Bronze Plan. In 2026, their premium jumped to a $2,737.44 monthly premium for that Bronze plan.”
- “Mrs. Personius reports that ‘we downgraded from previous Silver and Gold plans to a more expensive Bronze plan with less coverage,’ and that their deductibles have become so high that they fear ‘being surprised with a $50,000 medical bill if something goes wrong. Mr. Medlock was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, and the couple is concerned that their costs will continue to rise should he need treatment.” [Office of U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff]
Molly Belviso, Atlanta, Georgia
- “Molly Belviso, based in Atlanta, reported that the deductible for her marketplace health insurance plan increased 900% between 2025 and 2026. She reported that in 2025, her deductible was $800 and her out-of-pocket maximum was $3,100. In 2026, her deductible was $8,000, her out-of-pocket maximum was $10,150, and she further reports that the price of her blood pressure medication ‘quadrupled.’”
- “‘Moreover, she reports suffering from repetitive motion injuries and that the orthopedic treatment she previously received is no longer covered by her new plan.’” [Office of U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff]
Melissa Mitchell, HealthLinic CEO, Indiana
- “‘Medicaid cuts are killing us, and they’re making it so even health centers that were completely financially stable two years ago are taking cuts all over the place. And in Indiana alone, I’ve heard just recently of a handful of health centers that are laying off 50 to 100 people, closing sites.’”
- “‘Those types of challenges make it so that we are on incredibly thin margins and so we need to find a way to be the most responsible and resourceful when it comes to any of the funding that we do get.’” [WVPE 88.1]
Deb Tharp, grandmother of five, Kansas City, Kansas
- “‘I’m a newly disabled grandmother of five, mother of four and a kidney donor. […] I’m being left to suffer for months in agony because I can’t afford the simple surgery required to treat a dangerous condition.’”
- “’Before ACA subsidies ended, the cheapest Silver Saver plan with affordable spending caps would have cost me nothing. Now it costs $136 per month, with $3,300 in capped copays. Averaged out, that’s about $411 a month, about $314 more than the $100 that disqualified me for Medicaid coverage. […]. Is this the moral standard that proponents of the One Big Beautiful Bill say will make our nation strong again?’” [The Kansas City Star]
Kristine Fifer and her son, Eddie Fifer, Maryland
- “Thousands of family caregivers of people with intellectual and development disabilities in Maryland are facing a grim future after the Maryland Department of Health’s Developmental Disabilities Administration proposed steep cuts to their wages earlier this summer. […].These states’ moves are a sign of the deadline looming over state health departments as the $1 trillion Medicaid funding cut tucked in the 2025 GOP-backed tax bill goes into effect Jan. 1, 2027.”
- “‘With these new cuts, I’m done. I’m going to foreclose,’ Fifer said, fighting back tears. ‘It’s either I ride it out until the very last day until they kick us out of our home, or I put him in an institution.’”
- “Fifer recalled how devastating it was to hear from a parent who contemplated buying a life insurance policy and committing suicide in the hope that the payout would take care of their loved ones. […]. She has felt that darkness encroaching, too.” [STAT]
Melanie Miller, Michigan
- “When Melanie Miller of Michigan learned her Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace premium would be almost tripling to $914 a month, the 59-year-old retired teacher stopped shopping on the exchange altogether. Instead, she now pays $341 a month for two plans that together don’t meet federal standards for comprehensive coverage — one for routine care, another that pays flat amounts for hospital stays. If she winds up there, her plan pays $2,000 toward what can easily be a $30,000 bill.”
- “‘I don’t gamble,’ Miller told KFF Health News. ‘But I may as well. This is gambling.’” [KFF]
Ross and Rebecca Tobiasen, Sugar Grove, North Carolina
- “The Tobiassens decided to cancel their insurance when Rebecca saw the cost of their monthly premiums would jump from $130 to more than $550. ‘It makes no sense,’ she said. ‘It’s not worth it anymore.’ The couple own and are the only employees of a small auto shop just west of Appalachian State University in the North Carolina mountains. Rebecca worries about her husband, whose work as a mechanic can be dangerous.”
- “While the Tobiassens’ two teenage daughters remain on Medicaid, Rebecca said the new prices showed that the federal government doesn’t care about families like hers. ‘We’ve known that you don’t care about us,’ she said, ‘but you’re making it plain and simple now.’” [KFF]
Jason Miller, 43, software developer from Monroeville, Pennsylvania
- “Jason Miller watched his monthly health insurance premiums quadruple to $374 from $80 for a silver-level plan when the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits ran out in December.”
- “Miller, 43, a software developer, said he was forced to drop individual Affordable Care Act coverage for 2026, choosing instead to pay cash for the sleep apnea supplies he was prescribed and use telehealth for other medical care, where a consultation can cost as little as $29.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Jill Reiter, Spring Grove, Pennsylvania
- “Her health insurance premiums went from $129 a month to just under $300 a month after the last enrollment period, which put a real strain on her and her husband financially. ‘We’re a one-income household, and that’s my husband’s Social Security,’ Reiter said. ‘I said, I don’t know how I am going to do this.’”
- “‘Now it’s putting a crisis on hospitals and doctors who are being forced to treat these people who no longer have insurance,’ Reiter said. ‘People who are in need of life-saving medication or treatment are being left without. And I ask myself, why? This is the United States of America in 2026, and this is our healthcare system.’”
- “‘If my insurance goes up any more for 2027, I can’t afford it,’ Reiter said. ‘I’m done. I absolutely know I won’t be lucky next time. I 100% know that ball is going to drop on me come 2027. I am furious and scared. What if that breast cancer diagnosis comes through? That would financially bankrupt us.’” [York Daily Record]
Inger Perez, Encino, Texas
- “She has a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer. She said she did blood work recently, and while she wants to know the results, she’s bracing herself for what they could show. ‘I literally was crying last night because I’m nervous about what I’m going to find out and how much care that is and how much money that is,’ she said in an interview. ‘I’m terrified that I’ll start a plan of treatment but won’t be able to afford to keep up with it.’ Perez said she is also frustrated by the quality of the care she receives, in part because she lives in a rural area about an hour from a doctor’s office. To fit her budget, she had to choose a lower-cost Affordable Care Act marketplace plan with a limited network of covered providers, creating another obstacle to finding good care.” [Fortune]
Experts
Kim Musheno, senior director of Medicaid policy at The Arc
- “We know from the past that whenever the federal government reduces Medicaid, almost every state has made cuts to home and community-based services, and that those optional services include paying family caregivers.” [STAT]
Danne Howard, CEO of the Alabama Hospital Association
- “‘If you do not have insurance, you don’t have access for primary and preventative care. So, you don’t have a medical home. So, the emergency department of a hospital is the only place that some people have to go for that primary care,’ Howard said.”
- “‘The ripple effect in that is hospitals may have to make even more difficult decisions about additional service lines. They might not be able to continue to convert to be something other than a full-service, full-scale hospital, making people have to travel farther,’ Howard said.” [WAFF]