Washington, D.C. – Today, Donald Trump is traveling to Rome, Georgia, to grandstand about affordability and the economy. But the reality for Georgia’s family is far different from what Trump is trying to sell. Health care premiums for Georgians who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) just doubled, and now 42 percent of Georgians worry they won’t be able to afford health care in the next year. After Trump and Republicans ripped $3.6 billion from Georgia’s health care providers this year, 13 hospitals and clinics are facing closure or cuts to critical services. Trump and RFK Jr.’s attacks on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) threaten job security for the roughly 10,000 Georgians employed at CDC, which is headquartered in Atlanta. And all Trump is doing on health care is pretending to lower drug prices while catering to Big Pharma and billionaires.
“Donald Trump’s got some nerve showing up to tout his abysmal economy and affordability in a state ravaged by the GOP war on health care,” said Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse. “The damage is irreparable — hospitals are shutting down, health insurance premiums have spiked, and jobs across Georgia are in jeopardy, threatening the lives and livelihoods of hard-working Georgia families. No matter how Trump tries to spin this, the people of Georgia know the truth: life is becoming less and less affordable in Donald Trump’s America.”
BY THE NUMBERS: Trump’s War on Georgians’ Health Care
- More than 1.4 million Georgians who buy insurance through the ACA are now forced to pay an average of $539 more annually for health coverage.
- Thanks to GOP premium hikes, 460,000 Georgians will lose their health care coverage entirely this year, including small business owners, farmers, and older adults.
- More than 200,000 Georgians have already dropped their ACA coverage for 2026, resulting in a 14 percent decline in enrollment compared to 2025 after Trump and Republicans ripped away tax credits.
- Over 42 percent of Georgians are concerned they will not be able to afford the cost of health care over the next 12 months.
- Premiums for Georgians receiving ACA tax credits are increasing by an average of 196 percent this year:
- A 45-year-old in Georgia making $64,000 will see their average annual premium costs rise by $3,116 to hit $8,556 this year.
- A 60-year-old couple in Georgia making $85,000 will see their average annual premium costs rise by $24,935 to hit $32,160 this year.
- A family of four in Georgia making $130,000 will see their average annual premium costs rise by $13,159 to hit $24,209 this year.
- Georgia hospitals alone are expected to lose nearly just under $220 million annually. 13 Georgia hospitals and clinics are closing, have already announced cuts, or are at risk of closure in the wake of the Trump-GOP bill.
- Now, thanks to Republicans gutting the premium tax credits and hiking Georgians’ premiums, providers in Georgia will lose an additional $3.6 billion in funding.
Trump and Republicans Are Gutting Georgia’s Health Care Infrastructure
Georgia Hospitals and Clinics Are Already Folding Under the Weight of Trump’s Health Care Cuts – and His Rural Health Fund Falls Short of Covering Losses. Across Georgia, hospitals and clinics are folding under the weight of Trump and the GOP’s massive $1 trillion cut to Medicaid. Shortly after Republicans slashed Medicaid, state leaders in Georgia requested $1.4 billion from the Trump administration to shore up rural health care in anticipation of slashed budgets and closed clinics. The federal government’s grant, however, will not make up for federal budget cuts. It falls short by over $300 million, and the Trump-GOP bill’s vague language offers no guarantees that the money will go to the hospitals that need it the most. Further, the temporary grant fails to address the long-term financial fallout from Medicare and Medicaid underpaying providers for the cost of providing care. Nearly a third of the rural hospitals that remain open in Georgia are already at risk of closure.
Georgia Has Lost Hundreds of Jobs Thanks to Trump Administration Gutting the CDC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is headquartered in Atlanta and employed some 10,000 Georgians in the months before Trump was sworn into his second term. In just the first year of Trump’s second term, the CDC has faced three rounds of firings (and subsequent reinstatements), a traumatic shooting met by silence from HHS Secretary RFK Jr. and Trump, the abrupt firing of CDC director Susan Monarez, the total replacement of the CDC’s top vaccine advisory panel, and a slashed budget. In all, Trump has gutted the agency’s expertise and slashed at least 500 jobs (after sending out, then recalling, thousands of reduction-in-force notices), leaving a key Atlanta institution reeling.