Donald Trump and the GOP are inflicting astronomical pain on everyday Americans’ health care: $1 trillion in cuts to coverage for working families, 24 million Americans facing massive insurance premium increases, nearly 600 hospitals, nursing homes, and other critical health care providers shuttering or at risk of closing. But the Trump-GOP health care crisis is not happening only in the aggregate.
It’s playing out on Main Street in Belton, Missouri, where Kerri VanMeveren is considering closing her business and letting her 30 employees go if she can’t afford the $700 monthly increase in her health insurance premium next year. It’s hitting the trails of Teton County, Wyoming, where self-employed nature guide Sam Strauss will have to forgo health insurance if she can’t find $1,000 extra a month to pay for her skyrocketing premiums. And it’s devastating Chicago, Illinois, where retired math teacher Seyed and his wife Shahin estimate that they can only afford to live for 10 more years on their savings if their premiums double in the new year.
Americans deserve to know exactly who is being screwed over by Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, and Protect Our Care will continue to tell their stories. The following 22 haunting accounts — along with the 88 other testimonies we have collected in recent weeks — highlight Americans the GOP put on the chopping block to fund tax breaks for their billionaire friends.
Tracy Barber, Tucson, Arizona
- “Without the subsidies, Barber expects that she and her husband – also retired but already on Medicare – will spend more than 20% of their fixed income on health care premiums. ‘This insurance is more than $400 more than our mortgage,’ she said. ‘It’s definitely going to put a dent in things.’” [Cronkite News]
Adena Hope Bank, 62, Tucson, Arizona
- “Her premiums for 2026 are set to jump substantially. ‘I pay $731 a month right now and if I stay on the same plan, which really is a catastrophic plan at this point, it will go up to $1,083 a month,’ Bank said.” [KVOA]
Von Packard, 42, Mesa, Arizona
- “He has been paying $49 a month. The new coverage will jump to $719 – ‘more than I’ve ever paid in my entire life for health insurance.’”
- “‘There’s a lot of other things I would rather be doing with $700 a month. That is retirement right there,’ he said.” [Cronkite News]
David Pardo, 37, Denver, Colorado
- “Right now, paying $900 more per year is an annoyance. I know I’m one of the lucky ones, even though my premiums have doubled.” [Washington Post]
Stefani Ceballos, Apopka, Florida
- “Apopka resident Stefani Ceballos’ health care is covered by the VA because she is an army veteran, but she is the primary caregiver for her disabled adult son, Patrick. Last week, Ceballos received a letter explaining that Patrick’s insurance premium is set to triple, increasing from about $240 a month to over $910.53. ‘We expect to have to pay something, but we can’t pay that for sure,’ said Ceballos.”
- “Ceballos explained that Patrick was eligible for Medicaid for one year, but once he was no longer eligible, she had to start making difficult decisions about his health care. ‘We started going cash pay and he really didn’t get the medical care that he needed for several years,’ said Ceballos. […] ‘I was so happy when we were able to finally get him on a plan. And now all of that is in jeopardy,’ Ceballos said.”
- “She said it’s very likely they’ll have to piece together Patrick’s health care coverage again, paying cash where possible and delaying some tests and treatments until they can find a better solution.” [WFTV]
Laura, San Luis Valley, Colorado
- “When she heard the news, ‘it brought me to tears.’”
- “She said, ‘There’s just no way we can put over $30,000 just towards the premium… Right now, if I had to choose, I would say we just can’t afford it and hope that nothing happens to either of us, because we certainly wouldn’t be able to afford that either.’” [KUNC]
Mercedes Von Pichl, Commerce City, Colorado
- “She said the new premium will ‘barely’ be manageable, but, ‘I don’t really want to gamble [on] not having health insurance. I mean, we’ll have to make it work.’”
- “‘We are small business owners and have to provide health insurance for ourselves and our family out of pocket,’ Von Pichl said. ‘And before the Affordable Care Act, we were not able to afford insurance and that was without kids, so it’s been a lifeline.’” [KUNC]
Brandi McGee Polatty, Jackson County, Georgia
- “Polatty said she really likes her plan, even if her family will have to save more money to keep it. It’s got a low out-of-pocket expense, no annual deductible and it’s helped her get care from doctors she trusts for an immunodeficiency disorder, and a variety of expensive conditions that affect her brain. Not having health insurance isn’t an option for her family.” [GPB]
Lisa Brennan Winefield, Chicago, Illinois
- “Lisa Brennan Winefield has less than two months to get in as many health screenings as she can before she likely becomes uninsured once again.”
- “But what’s most pressing for Brennan Winefield, who lost her dad to colon cancer at just 42 years old, is scheduling a colonoscopy before her health insurance likely ends in December. ‘I had my kids when I was in my 40s, so even though I’m 60 … I still have teenage kids,’ she says while sitting on a picnic table in Independence Park in Evanston, not far from her home. Without a screening, ‘I would die of colon cancer,’ Brennan Winefield says, her voice rising with conviction. ‘The Affordable Care Act is, literally, keeping me alive.’” [WBEZ]
Seyed and Shahin, Chicago, Illinois
- “‘What should we do?’ Seyed says during an interview with his wife Shahin in their home. […] ‘I said to her, ‘I mean, we have to be realistic: We can live only maximum 10 more years.’’
- “For the couple, health insurance is crucial as Shahin navigates serious health concerns. About eight years ago, Shahin underwent a kidney transplant. And then this year, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and recently underwent surgery for retinal detachment.”
- “‘Hopefully a miracle will happen,’ Shahin says as she stands near a pink lady apple tree she planted in her backyard in memory of her kidney donor. Shahin says both the kidney donor and the ACA helped save her life. ‘I consider myself still lucky to be alive because of that precious gift that I have been given.’” [WBEZ]
Gretchen Kalwinski, 50, Chicago, Illinois
- “I don’t think I can count on the marketplace anymore. We were working with $1,309 before. … It’s not cheap, but we pinched and we made it work. But this is absolutely not doable. This is inspiring conversations like, ‘I guess we need to move to Canada.’” [Washington Post]
Kiki Yablon, 56, Chicago, Illinois
- “Property taxes have recently skyrocketed as our neighborhood has become popular. Our house needs some repairs, which will likely have to wait. We also have cars that were made in 2008 and 2014, each with 100K miles on them, and I was hoping to replace one of them this year. That will not likely be possible.” [Washington Post]
Kerri VanMeveren, Belton, Missouri
- “Kerri VanMeveren, who owns Amazing Traditions, a government contracting business in Belton, Missouri, said her $129 monthly Obamacare premium will jump to about $700 a month next year. VanMeveren, who is in her 50s with a history of blood clots, said the ACA has been a lifeline for the 11 years she’s run her business. ‘If I don’t have health insurance come January 1 because I can’t afford the premiums, I may very well have to look at closing my business,’ VanMeveren said. That would have consequences not only for VanMeveren, but also for the five to 30 people she employs, depending on the needs of government contracts she’s able to secure.” [Fortune]
Gladys Harrison, Omaha, Nebraska
- “Gladys Harrison, owner of Big Mama’s Kitchen and Catering, was already struggling to cover rising food prices for ingredients at the Omaha restaurant that’s been in her family for two generations. Then, she got notice last month that her health-care premiums will nearly quadruple next year. ‘It’s all of the things happening at once,’ said Harrison, 58, one of 24 million Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act marketplace for insurance. She’s considering picking up more shifts at the restaurant to cover her monthly premium — and may have to cut other employees’ hours to make ends meet in a tough economy.” [Fortune]
Virginia Gilbert, 63, Asheville, North Carolina
- “Virginia Gilbert was shocked and angry after she learned last week that premiums for her Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance policy will more than double next year, jumping from $930 to $2,042.”
- “‘I’m not really even thinking about myself at this point,’ said Gilbert, 63, whose expected 2026 premiums will roughly equal the monthly mortgage payments for her Asheville condominium. “What happens to the country if most people who don’t have employer-funded health insurance can’t afford health insurance?” she asked rhetorically. ‘It just feels so dystopian.’” [Asheville Watchdog]
Mary Williams, 62, North Carolina
- “That includes Mary Williams, 62, who said she cannot hope to pay her premiums, which are set to soar from $172 to $1,879. Her subsidy was based on her modest income as a freelance artist and musician, she said. Her rent recently tripled because two roommates moved out and she is paying off her $900 share of an emergency room bill for a kidney stone treatment.”
- “‘I can’t pay that,’ she said of the hospital bill, and her insurance premiums would come to more than half her salary. ‘It’s like a 1,000 percent increase,’ she said. ‘I mean, there’s no way.’” [Asheville Watchdog]
Matt Hornberger, 61, Altoona, Pennsylvania
- “Between the high deductible and $25,000 in premiums, this is 40 percent of our income. I’m just trying to live a life here and be able to go to the doctor when you need to go to the doctor. It’s just obscene what politicians have allowed to happen.” [Washington Post]
Mike Baker, 53, Washington, D.C.
- “‘I was all in favor of the ACA because I want everybody to have health care. I never thought much about it until I had to think about it. Once I got onto the D.C. marketplace site and looked at the premiums, I was just shocked. This is the bare-bones, lowest plan there is.’” [Washington Post]
Margie Lynch, 58, Teton County, Wyoming
- “For Lynch, the bill would jump from $862 to more than $2,000 per month.”
- “‘I’m 58. I have real concerns that I may need some pretty significant health services,’ Lynch said. ‘I don’t want to bankrupt myself making sure that I have the care that I need.’ Lynch plans to look at other options, but considers whether she may have to pay up and shy away from accessing care in light of a sky-high deductible. ‘I’m wondering if I am going to have to bite the bullet,’ Lynch said. ‘And just not procure any services unless they are free, or I’m in desperate need of them, to avoid the $10,600 of the deductible.’” [JH News and Guide]
Jason Mincer, Cheyenne, Wyoming
- “‘Even with the stories that we saw in the press, [I] was surprised,’ he said. Mercer works for Enroll Wyoming, a nonprofit that helps people find healthcare insurance. ‘For the exact same plan that I have now, and without a change in my income, [my monthly premium] had gone from about $500 a month to over $1,300 a month,’” he said.
- “He said he can’t not have insurance. ‘I’m diabetic and need the medication that comes with that diagnosis,’ he said.” [KHOL]
Sam Strauss, 29, Teton County, Wyoming
- “If Strauss wanted to continue on her gold health insurance plan, her monthly premium would more than double, from $443 to $919.”
- “‘It’s scary, staring down the barrel of almost $1,000 a month in just my premium cost,’ Strauss said. ‘It’s anxiety inducing, and it’s causing me to ask myself a lot of hard questions and look at tough options, none of them good.’” [JH News and Guide]
Miga Rossetti, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
- “Miga Rossetti, who purchased an Obamacare plan for her family of four in 2025, faces a monthly premium of $4,301 for a bronze plan. That’s more than $50,000 a year, without even considering a hefty deductible of $21,000 before insurance will pay a dime of health expenses. ‘It’s a nonstarter,’ Rossetti said.” [JH News and Guide]