Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans are putting women’s health care at risk in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. This is the largest cut to health care in history, effectively throwing our entire health care system in chaos. By slashing over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, the damage will be felt in every corner of the country all because Republicans wanted to give tax breaks to the uber wealthy.
The dire consequences of the GOP tax bill will be felt for years to come, but some of the worst provisions take effect in just a few months. Starting in 2026, premiums and out-of-pocket costs will skyrocket and many will lose coverage altogether due to miles of red tape. Then, devastating cuts to Medicaid will begin to take effect, causing rural hospitals to shut down, seniors to be forced out of their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction to lose life-saving care. Taken together, these cuts will cause years of progress to be lost as the uninsured rate explodes to levels not seen in 15 years. This is the GOP’s war on American health care playing out in real time, and every single consequence is on the lawmakers who voted for these devastating cuts.
- Over 15 Million Americans Will Lose Medicaid Or ACA Coverage And Become Uninsured Under Trump And Republicans’ Bill.
- Adult women make up the majority of Medicaid enrollees.
- Medicaid provides crucial health coverage across a woman’s entire lifespan. It is the largest payer for maternity care, mental health services, long term care, and home health care.
Key Points: The GOP War On Health Care
Republicans Gutted Federal Funding for Medicaid, Slashing Benefits and Kicking People Off Coverage to Fund Tax Cuts for the Rich. Currently, the federal government pays between 50 percent and 77 percent of enrollees’ Medicaid costs, and more for certain high-value services. The Republican tax bill slashed nearly a trillion dollars in federal funding from Medicaid, straining state budgets and leaving millions of people uninsured to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.
Republicans Cut The Lifeline That Keeps Rural Hospitals Open. Medicaid helps fund rural hospitals by ensuring more patients can pay for their care. Rural hospitals in Medicaid expansion states are 62 percent less likely to close. In 2023, over 600 rural hospitals were at risk of closing in the near future, almost all of which were within non-expansion states. Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid leave rural hospitals in peril with over 300 hospitals at “immediate risk” of closure. Expecting mothers are particularly at risk with more than 100 hospitals across 26 states having closed their labor and delivery units since 2020 and fewer than 1,000 rural hospitals nationwide still have labor and delivery units. In rural states, most families have to drive over an hour to reach the closest birthing hospital. Closures of birthing centers in rural areas has resulted in increases of births occurring in emergency rooms or outside of a hospital, as well as an increase in preterm births.
Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill Decimates Access To Essential Services Like Maternity Care And Long-Term Care. Medicaid is the single largest payer for long-term care, maternity care, and mental health services. Nearly a third of adults have received maternity care, home health care, or nursing home care through Medicaid. Nearly one in five adults struggling with mental illness also have access to care through Medicaid. Republicans’ Medicaid cuts will leave Americans with disabilities in need of long-term care, new mothers and infants, and those suffering from mental health issues at risk for loss of coverage, limited access to care, and creating economic instability in families.
Republicans Have Thrown Millions Off Their Coverage By Adding Burdensome Work Reporting Requirements To Medicaid. 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. These requirements will also hurt women who typically fall into caregiving roles. In 2023, nearly 20 percent of women who did not work reported caregiving responsibilities as their reason, opposed to only 5 percent of men. Six in ten women enrolled in Medicaid worked full or part time. According to the Urban Institute, implementing work reporting requirements will cause 5 million people to lose health care coverage through Medicaid expansion.
The Big Ugly Bill Makes It Difficult For Women To Access Reproductive Care. Republicans are making it harder for people to access abortion care and are further villainizing Planned Parenthood by eliminating Medicaid funding for non-abortion care. The tax bill incentivizes private insurers to not cover abortions by denying cost-sharing reductions for marketplace plans that include abortion care. They are also eliminating publicly funded access to reproductive care through Planned Parenthood. While Medicaid funding already cannot be used to cover abortion costs, the tax bill takes it a step further by eliminating Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding for non-abortion care. This will cut off access to health care for millions of women and girls. Planned Parenthood currently provides over 2 million patients with access to reproductive care annually, including birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and wellness exams. Over 60 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are located in areas with few to none other health care options in the area.
Republicans Will Eliminate Tax Credits, Hiking Premiums For Over 24 Million Americans. 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.
Republicans Are Making It Harder to Enroll and Obtain Health Coverage. Republicans are not only making it harder for families to enroll in coverage by shortening the enrollment period and taking away low-income families’ ability to sign up for coverage outside of the six-week enrollment period, but they are also making it difficult to stay enrolled by establishing more paperwork burdens for enrolling and proving eligibility for tax credits. These policies will only end in millions of Americans being unable to access the coverage that they need to stay healthy.
Republicans Will Penalize Families With Unexpected Changes In Income. Under the GOP proposal, if low-income families experience a change in their circumstances, such as a promotion or a new job, they could be penalized with thousands of dollars in additional payments around tax time. These repayments could be devastating for freelancers, gig workers, and small business owners, who make up a large share of marketplace enrollees.