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STATEMENT: Fifteen Years of the Affordable Care Act Saving Lives and Republicans Are Still Trying to Rip It Away

Washington, D.C. — On Sunday it will have been fifteen years since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law, improving the health and well-being of millions across the nation. Since that historic day, the ACA has become a pillar of health care that Americans depend on. Not a single Republican voted for the ACA, and they continue to do everything in their power to undermine the law. The ACA has survived countless repeal attempts from the GOP, but they still want to destroy the law, the lifesaving access to health care it provides, and its protections for over 100 million people with pre-existing conditions. As threats to destroy the ACA escalate, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are dead-set on raising premium costs, slashing Medicaid funding, and hiking prescription drug costs for seniors. The Trump-led Republican scheme to gut the ACA will throw the entire health care system into chaos.

In response, Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement: “It’s hard to think back to a time before the Affordable Care Act, but Trump and his Republican allies want to force millions of Americans who depend on it to go there. Back to a time when insurance companies ran the show, denying coverage for people with pre-existing conditions was the norm, young adults were thrown off their parents’ coverage, and older adults were charged an age tax. Republicans are turning that dark past into reality by pushing for premium hikes and by ripping away coverage from people who are struggling to pay their bills, just to give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. On this important anniversary, it’s critical that we defend the ACA and its lifesaving protections from the GOP war on health care.”

Background:

Over the past fifteen years, health outcomes have improved across all age groups, inequities in access to care have narrowed, families have benefited from stronger financial security, and millions of people with pre-existing conditions have gotten the health care they need at an affordable cost thanks to the ACA. But this progress has not come easily. Trump and Republicans are working hand over fist to tear away the ACA and its protections and raise premium costs, slash Medicaid funding, and raise prescription drug costs for seniors.

If the ACA Is Repealed:

GONE: Medicaid expansion for the 40 states plus the District of Columbia who have expanded, covering about 24 million people.
GONE: Coverage for the 24.2 million people who signed up for Marketplace coverage for 2025.
GONE: Thousands of lives will be at risk without Medicaid expansion.
GONE: The ability for children to stay on their parent’s plans until age 26.

Families’ Health Care Costs Will Rise If the ACA is Repealed:

GONE: Coverage for the 3.9 million Americans newly signed up for a Marketplace plan for 2025.
GONE: Affordable plans for under $10 a month that four out of five enrollees are eligible for.
GONE: Record savings, with individuals saving an average of $800 annually and families saving an average of $2,400 annually on coverage.
GONE: Coverage of preventive care at no out-of-pocket cost to patients.
GONE: The requirement that forces insurance companies to cover essential benefits like prescription drugs and contraception, which benefits over 220 million Americans with private coverage.
GONE: Improved access to care and financial security for families.

How Patient Protections Would Disappear If the ACA is Repealed:

GONE: Protections for more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.
GONE: A ban on insurance companies charging women more for the same care as men.
GONE: A ban on insurance companies imposing annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
GONE: Reduced disparities and improved health outcomes for communities of color, rural Americans, people with disabilities, and more.

Health care costs would soar if Republicans repeal the ACA.

More Than 24.2 Million People Could Lose Coverage If The ACA Is Repealed. In 2025, a record-breaking 24.2 million people who buy insurance on their own signed up for health coverage through the ACA Marketplace. This is the highest number of Americans to ever enroll during an Open Enrollment Period and it is largely due to policies that lowered premiums in President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act. Families are now saving an average of $2,400 a year on their health insurance premiums. However, the ACA and Inflation Reduction Act are under Republican threat. If either is repealed, health care will become inaccessible and unaffordable for millions of Americans. Americans who lose Marketplace coverage will have to enroll through a private insurer, if they don’t qualify for Medicaid, to maintain coverage.

Premium Prices Will Rise and People Will Lose Coverage If Premium Tax Credits Aren’t Extended. Most people receiving coverage through the Marketplace qualify for tax credits to help pay for their premiums, and the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act made these savings more generous and available to more people. Four out of five people enrolling in a Marketplace plan have a plan for less than $10. The Inflation Reduction Act ensures all ACA enrollees never pay more than 8.5 percent of their household income on premiums. The law also expanded the eligibility for premium tax credits above 400 percent of the federal poverty level through 2025 — roughly $54,000 for a single person or $111,000 for a family of four. Previously, families earning more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level spent an average of 15 percent of their incomes on health insurance. Americans earning up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level (roughly $20,000 for a single person and $41,000 for a family of four) who buy their coverage on the Marketplace are able to enroll in a plan with $0 premiums. However, Republicans are putting these tax credits that help families at risk. At the end of 2025, tax credits will expire unless extended by Congress. 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.

Prescription Drugs Would No Longer Be Considered Essential. If the ACA is repealed, insurers will no longer have to cover what are known as “essential health benefits,” which includes prescription drugs. This required all health insurance plans to cover at least one drug in every category and class of approved medicines.

Repealing the ACA Will Make Birth Control Harder to Access and Afford. The ACA guarantees that private health plans cover all FDA-approved forms of contraception and make them available to 58 million patients with no out-of-pocket costs. More than 99 percent of sexually active women have used contraceptives at some point in their lifetimes, and approximately 60 percent of women of reproductive age currently use at least one birth control method. In 2013 alone, women saved $1.4 billion on birth control pills. Without this ACA provision, the costs of contraception would fall on women and their families.

Patients would no longer be protected from discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, gender, and sexuality if the ACA is repealed.

Up To 129 Million Americans With Pre-Existing Conditions Could Be Booted From Their Insurance. Because of the ACA, insurers in the individual market can no longer drop or deny coverage, or charge more because of a pre-existing condition. If the ACA is repealed, up to 129 million Americans who have a pre-existing health condition could lose coverage or see their cost of insurance increase.

Essential Health Benefits Would No Longer Be Covered. If Republicans get rid of the ACA, insurers will no longer be required to cover what are known as “essential health benefits,” such as maternity care, prescription drugs, and substance and mental health. Before the ACA, individual market plans often failed to cover these basic, and oftentimes preventive, health services.

Repealing the ACA Would Bring Back Annual And Lifetime Limits, Including For People With Employer-Based Coverage. The ACA put an end to insurers putting annual or lifetime limits on the care you receive. At the time the ACA was passed, 91 million Americans had health care through their employers that imposed lifetime limits. Many such plans capped benefits at $1 million, functionally locking people with complex medical needs out of coverage. 179 million Americans with employer coverage, in addition to the millions with ACA Marketplace coverage, will not be protected from lifetime limits if the ACA is repealed.

Women Won’t Be Protected Against Being Charged More Than Men. The ACA ensures that insurers can no longer charge women more than men for the same coverage, and insurers are now required to cover important health benefits like maternity care. Before the ACA, only 12 percent of individual market plans offered maternity care. The ACA established maternity coverage as one of the ten essential health benefits required on all new individual and small group policies. The American Rescue Plan created a pathway to coverage for pregnant Americans, allowing states to extend postpartum coverage under Medicaid from 60 days to 12 months following pregnancy. The United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the industrialized world, with 30 percent of maternal deaths occurring between six weeks and one year following delivery, after Medicaid coverage has ended. Repealing the ACA, and therefore getting rid of the expansions made to Medicaid to provide coverage for mothers, pregnant people will go back to being uncovered during 12 months postpartum and women will no longer be guaranteed fairly priced coverage from insurance companies, putting many women at risk to go uninsured.

LGBTQI+ Americans Will No Longer Be Protected From Discrimination By Health Insurance Companies. Starting in April 2024, President Biden and HHS began requiring health insurance plans offered through the ACA to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics. LGBTQI+ Americans are more likely to be without health insurance than their non-LGBTQI+ counterparts. According to a Center for American Progress survey, in 2019, the LGBTQI+ uninsured rate was 20 percent in holdout states, compared to 8 percent in states that adopted Medicaid expansion. The repeal of the ACA would put access to affordable, quality health care plans in jeopardy for LGBTQI+ Americans and nearly 210,000 LGBTQI+ enrollees who currently have access to zero-premium plans would see prices rise.

ACA repeal would eliminate health care for millions of Americans on Medicaid:

States Would No Longer Have The Option To Expand Medicaid. Because of the ACA, states can expand Medicaid to millions of adults who previously did not qualify for affordable health care. Between 2013 and 2020, states that expanded their programs saw a 33.9 percent increase in Medicaid enrollment. 24.3 million Americans who enrolled in Medicaid thanks to Medicaid expansion would lose coverage if the ACA is repealed.

Rural Hospitals’ Uncompensated Care Costs Would Increase. Through lower premiums and expanded Medicaid, the ACA has profoundly reduced uncompensated care costs, which are often the direct result of individuals who are uninsured or underinsured. Studies published in 2021 found that Medicaid expansion resulted in hospitals receiving higher reimbursements and decreased uncompensated care costs. In 2019, uncompensated care costs in expansion states were less than half of those in non-expansion states. Compared to 2013, hospitals’ uncompensated care costs decreased by more than $14 billion in 2017, or 26 percent. If Republicans get their way and repeal the ACA, rural hospitals will see uncompensated care costs rise to where they were pre-2010. This will put rural hospitals at a higher risk of closing, making it harder for rural Americans to access lifesaving care in times of need.

ACA Repeal Would Undo Major Gains Made By Medicaid Expansion. A study published in the Journal of Health Economics found that Medicaid expansion reduced all-cause mortality in people aged 20 to 64 by 3.6 percent. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Medicaid expansion saved the lives of 19,200 older adults aged 55 to 64 between 2014 and 2017. At the same time, 15,600 older adults died prematurely as a result of their state’s decision not to expand the program. ACA repeal would rip Medicaid coverage away from Americans in all expansion states and put millions of people at risk to not be able to access or afford the care they need.

Repeal of Medicaid Expansion Would Put Children At Risk. When parents have health insurance, their children are more likely to be insured. A study in Health Affairs found that 710,000 children gained public coverage as a result of their parents enrolling in Medicaid between 2013 and 2015. Without Medicaid as an option for parents, children are more likely to go uninsured. Having health insurance during childhood is paramount and has been shown to improve outcomes later in life. For each additional year of Medicaid eligibility as a child, adults by age 28 had higher earnings and made $533 additional cumulative tax payments due to their higher incomes.

Getting Rid of Medicaid Expansion Would Send People in Financial Peril. A January 2021 study found the ACA helped reduce income inequality across the board, but far more dramatically in Medicaid expansion states. The bottom 10th percentile of earners In Medicaid expansion states saw a 22.4 percent boost in their income, compared to 11.4 percent in non-expansion states. A 2019 study found that Medicaid Expansion also caused a “significant” reduction in poverty.

Republican repeal of the ACA would reduce access to preventive services and increase racial inequity:

Health Plans Would No Longer Be Required To Cover Preventive Screenings. Without the ACA, health plans would no longer be required to cover preventive services — like flu shots, cancer screenings, contraception, and mammograms – at no cost to consumers. This includes the 179 million Americans with employer coverage. Importantly, the ACA also requires plans to cover all vaccinations recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Preventive care is essential to comprehensive coverage and because of the ACA, insurers have to cover what are known as “essential health benefits,” such as maternity care, prescription drugs, and substance and mental health.

Racial Disparities In Health Outcomes Will Continue Without Preventive Care Protections. Access to preventive care starts with access to affordable coverage. The ACA led to historic reductions in racial disparities in access to health care, but racial gaps in insurance coverage narrowed the most in states that adopted Medicaid expansion. The ACA significantly reduced racial disparities in the share of people who went without care because of cost. If Republicans get rid of the ACA, the number of uninsured Americans will grow creating more of a rift in racial disparities.

Without Medicaid Expansion Infant And Maternal Health Will Deteriorate. Health care coverage has been shown to improve infant and maternal mortality outcomes. One study found that reductions in maternal mortality in expansion states were concentrated among Black mothers, “suggesting that expansion could be contributing to decreasing racial disparities in maternal mortality.” Expansion has also been tied to improving health outcomes for Black babies, significantly reducing racial disparities in low birth weight and premature birth. Republican threats to repeal the ACA’s Medicaid expansion would lead to increased death rates during pregnancy, postpartum, and infancy, especially among Black mothers and babies.

Disease-Specific Diagnosis And Treatment Will Suffer Without Preventive Care. A 2017 study called preventive care “one of the most important health care strategies to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment, improve quality of life, and prevent premature death.” Yet, Republicans are threatening to rip it away along with the rest of the ACA. Access to preventive care through Medicaid expansion reduced racial disparities in cancer care and resulted in earlier diagnosis and treatment for Black patients. According to the Center for American Progress, Black women were more likely to receive care because of the ACA.

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THIS WEEK: Protect Our Care Continues Events Across the Country to Call On Republicans to Put an End to Their War on American Health Care

***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR MARCH 20 – MARCH 23***

Protect Our Care Holds Events In Alaska, Arizona, California, Iowa, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin

This week, Protect Our Care is hosting events across the nation headlined by U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), U.S. Representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), and Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) to call on Republicans to put an end to their war on health care. Protect Our Care is also joining events alongside SEIU to discuss the importance of Medicaid to patients, workers, and communities. Republicans are trying to cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. At the same time, they’re trying to take away critical tax credits from working families, which will raise premium costs for millions. Speakers will address the urgent need for Congress to stop Republican efforts to slash Medicaid and raise premiums, and they will call on lawmakers to protect affordable access to health care for Americans, not take it away.

Already, Protect Our Care has hosted events including U.S. Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Bobby Scott (VA-03), Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08) in Arizona, Virginia, and New York. Protect Our Care, alongside SEIU, held Medicaid Week of Action events in Maine, Pennsylvania, and California. Read headlines from the events below:

Arizona Mirror: ‘Make Them Fear Voters More Than Trump’: Kelly, Gallego Rally Against GOP Medicaid Cuts
13NewsNow: Congressman Bobby Scott Hosts Medicaid Roundtable Amid Fears of Cuts
13NewsNow: Hampton Roads Caregivers Raise Alarm About Possible Cuts to Medicaid: ‘Devastated, Afraid and Shocked’
WAVY: Rep. Scott Hosts Medicaid Roundtable in Norfolk
Virginia Mercury: ‘Not on Our Watch’: McClellan Stresses Congressional Fight to Defend Medicaid From Potential Cuts
Times West Virginian: Protestors Demand Accountability From Congressional Republicans in Morgantown
WGAL: Calls for Townhalls
WGAL: Advocates Hold Their Own Townhall
KYW
KYW

THURSDAY

ALASKA

WHO:
Advocates
SEIU caregivers
907 Initiative

WHAT: Medicaid Empty Suit Townhall

WHERE: Wilda Marston Theater at Loussac Library, 3600 Denali St, Anchorage, AK 99503

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 6 PM AKT // 10 PM ET

CALIFORNIA

WHO:
Activate America
Power CA Action
Poder Latinx
Dolores Huerta Foundation

WHAT: “Hands Off Our Healthcare” Town Hall

WHERE: Meitzenheimer Community Center, 830 S Blackstone Street, Tulare, CA 93274

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 6 PM PT // 9 PM ET

NEW YORK

WHO:
Long Island clergy and faith communities
Long Island Jobs with Justice
Healthcare Education Project
1199SEIU

WHAT: SEIU Medicaid Week of Action Faith Leaders Event

WHERE: Meitzenheimer Community Center, 830 S Blackstone Street, Tulare, CA 93274

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 12 PM ET

NORTH CAROLINA

WHO:
State Representative Julie von Haefen (D-NV-36)
Shannon Dingle, Little Lobbyists
Eric Schneidewind, Former AARP National President
Vanessa Watson, Protect Our Care North Carolina

WHAT: Medicaid Defense Press Conference

WHERE: Register for the Zoom here [Registration required]

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 11 AM ET

PENNSYLVANIA

WHO:
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
Make The Road Pennsylvania
PA House Elected Officials
Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates
Michael Berman, Protect Our Care Pennsylvania

WHAT: SEIU Medicaid Week of Action “Medicaid Accountability Town Hall” in Bethlehem

WHERE: Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St, Bethlehem, PA

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 6 PM ET

WISCONSIN

WHO:
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Tyler Engel, Storyteller
Chad Sobieck, Storyteller
Chris Witt, Advanced Employment/Host
Christie Whiting, Storyteller
Cindy Piotrow, Storyteller
Kathy Seiler, Storyteller
Joe Zepecki, Protect Our Care Wisconsin

WHAT: Medicaid Defense Press Conference

WHERE: Email Joe Zepecki at [email protected] for location

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 10 AM CT // 11 AM ET

FRIDAY

ALASKA

WHO:
SEIU caregivers
Medicaid advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Stories Postcard Dropoff

WHERE: 510 L Street Suite 600 Anchorage, AK 99501

WHEN: Friday, March 21 at 3 PM AKT // 7 PM ET

IOWA

WHO:
Laura Packard, ACA Advocate & Cancer Survivor
MJ, Margarida Jorge, Health Care & Tax Policy Expert
Amy Adams, Protect Our Care Iowa

WHAT: ACA Anniversary Press Conference

WHERE: Register for the Zoom here [Registration required]

WHEN: Friday, March 21 at 12 PM CT // 1 PM ET

WISCONSIN

WHO:
Governor Tony Evers (D-WI)
Cierra Chesir, Storyteller
Krisjon Olson, Storyteller
Joe Zepecki, Protect Our Care Wisconsin

WHAT: ACA Anniversary Press Conference

WHERE: Register for the Zoom here [Registration required]

WHEN: Friday, March 21 at 10:30 AM CT // 11:30 AM ET

SATURDAY

NEW YORK

WHO:
Health care advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Town Hall

WHERE: Dramatic Hall, 900 Main St., Peekskill, NY

WHEN: Saturday, March 22 at 1 PM ET

VIRGINIA

WHO:
Health care advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Rally

WHERE: VA-02

WHEN: Saturday, March 22 at TBA

SUNDAY

CALIFORNIA

WHO:
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17)
California Medicaid advocates and storytellers

WHAT: Benefits Over Billionaires Tour

WHERE: Martin Luther King Community Center, 1000 S Owens St, Bakersfield, CA 93307

WHEN: Sunday, March 23 at 11:30 AM PST

WHO:
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17)
California Medicaid advocates and storytellers

WHAT: Benefits Over Billionaires Tour

WHERE: Norco College Amphitheater, 2001 Third St, Norco, CA 92860

WHEN: Sunday, March 23 at 4:30 PM PST

WHO:
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17)
California Medicaid advocates and storytellers

WHAT: Benefits Over Billionaires Tour

WHERE: Peralta Canyon Park, 115 N Pinney Dr, Anaheim, CA 92807

WHEN: Sunday, March 23 at 7 PM

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FACT SHEET: 15 Times Republicans Have Sabotaged The Affordable Care Act

The GOP Has Tried and Failed Hundreds of Times To Repeal and Undermine It

15 years ago, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law, and it has become a pillar of health care that Americans rely on. Millions of Americans depend on the ACA to not only stay healthy but also for financial security. The law requires insurance companies to cover preventative care, such as vaccinations, contraception, and cancer screenings. It has decreased income inequality, increased access to preventative care, and saved lives. Not a single Republican voted for the ACA in 2010; since then, they have continuously worked to repeal and sabotage the law. The ACA has survived countless repeal attempts, yet time and again, Republicans have worked to destroy the ACA and its protections for over 100 million people with pre-existing conditions.

Here are just some of the ways Republicans have sabotaged the ACA over the years:

March 23, 2010: Republicans Unanimously Opposed The Affordable Care Act. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law, which enshrined health care protections for hundreds of millions of Americans, provided for states to expand Medicaid coverage to a greater range of income levels, created ACA Marketplaces to offer health care coverage to qualifying individuals, mandated health insurance coverage for every American, and more. Democrats in Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without a single Republican vote in either the House of Representatives or Senate. Republicans stood united against the law and immediately vowed to repeal it.
2011: As Soon As Republicans Re-took Control of The House of Representatives, They Voted To Repeal the ACA. After retaking control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the ACA was passed in 2010, Republicans immediately took a vote to repeal the ACA. Every single House Republican voted for the repeal bill, which the Democratic-controlled Senate later refused to pass.
2012: Republicans Unsuccessfully Challenged the ACA in Court. In 2011, dozens of Republican-led states joined a lawsuit against the Obama administration challenging the constitutionality of the ACA. After months of appeals, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and eventually ruled 5-4 to uphold the law. After the Supreme Court released its ruling, several top Republicans vowed to continue efforts to repeal the ACA.
2013: Republicans Refused To Fund the Government Without Delaying or Repealing the ACA, Causing A 16-Day Government Shutdown. In October 2013, Republicans shut down the federal government for the first time in 17 years and refused to fund the government without repealing the ACA or delaying its implementation. After 16 days, House Republicans relented and passed legislation to fund the government without any substantial changes to the health care law, other than stricter income verification requirements for consumers shopping for health insurance on ACA Marketplaces.
2015: Republicans Passed A Bill Repealing The ACA That Was Vetoed By President Obama. In October 2015, Republicans in Congress used budget reconciliation to bypass the Senate filibuster and pass a budget that included provisions repealing core parts of the ACA. President Obama vetoed the bill, and the ACA remained intact.
2017: Days After Taking Office, President Trump Cancelled ACA Enrollment Outreach Advertising During Open Enrollment. Within days of taking office, Trump canceled television/online advertising outreach for ACA enrollment, leading to an estimated 480,000 fewer Americans enrolling in coverage.
2017: Republicans Tried and Failed To Repeal The ACA. In 2017, Republicans in Congress infamously tried and failed to repeal and replace the ACA, introducing their own plan known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which eventually failed in the Republican-controlled Senate.
2017: Republicans Passed Donald Trump’s Tax Plan, Gutting The ACA’s Individual Coverage Mandate. In late 2017, Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Donald Trump’s tax plan, which included a provision gutting the ACA’s individual mandate by ending the tax penalty for not having health insurance. Trump later bragged about ending the individual mandate in an October 2019 speech in Florida, telling a crowd, “We eliminated Obamacare’s horrible, horrible, very expensive and very unfair, unpopular individual mandate. A total disaster. That was a big penalty. That was a big thing. Where you paid a lot of money for the privilege […] of having no healthcare.”
2017: The First Trump Administration Cut Enrollment Outreach Funding By 90 Percent. In the fall of 2017, the Trump administration significantly cut federal funding for Navigator programs designed to help people find health insurance on ACA Marketplaces by around 90 percent.
2017: The First Trump Administration Halved The Duration of Open Enrollment. In the fall of 2017, the Trump administration also halved the duration of Open Enrollment, reducing the period from three months to just 45 days, which contributed to a dramatic slowdown in ACA enrollment during the first Trump administration compared to both the Obama administration and later the Biden administration.
2017: The First Trump Administration Abruptly Ended ACA Subsidies To Marketplace Insurers, Sowing Disarray. In the fall of 2017, the Trump administration abruptly stopped paying subsidies to health insurers offering coverage through ACA Marketplaces. The move ended cost-sharing reduction payments and caused premiums to spike and insurer participation in ACA Marketplaces to drop. Trump bragged about the cuts, declaring, “I knocked out the hundreds of millions of dollars a month being paid back to the insurance companies by politicians. […] This is money that goes to the insurance companies to line their pockets, to raise their stock prices. And they’ve had a record run. They’ve had an incredible run, and it’s not appropriate.”
2017: The First Trump Administration Undermined Medicaid Expansion, Pushing States To Submit Waiver Programs Limiting Coverage. Shortly after taking power, the first Trump administration began pushing states to adopt Medicaid expansion waivers circumventing ACA enrollment and undermining its consumer protections by imposing bureaucratic work reporting requirements, premium restrictions, and eligibility restrictions for state Medicaid enrollees. Throughout Trump’s first term, he approved 13 state Section 1115 Medicaid expansion waivers.
2018: The First Trump Administration Approved and Promoted Junk Plans Circumventing ACA Consumer and Coverage Protections. In 2018, the Trump administration began approving and enabling junk plans, including short-term plans and association health plans, that do not have to follow the consumer protection and minimum coverage standards set out by the ACA. An analysis of short-term plans conducted by KFF found that none of the plans studied covered maternity care, 62 percent did not cover substance abuse treatment, and 71 percent did not cover outpatient prescription drug services. Similarly, association health plans are allowed to charge people more based on their age, health status, and gender. AHPs have a long history of fraud and unpaid claims and provide weaker cost and protection coverage. Trump touted his efforts in a 2019 White House address, bragging, “We took swift action to open short-term health plans and association health plans to millions and millions of Americans.”
2020: The First Trump Administration Asked The Supreme Court To Overturn the ACA. In 2020, the Trump administration explicitly asked the Supreme Court to overturn the ACA. Ever since the 2012 Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of the law, Republicans across the country had been supporting efforts to overturn parts of it in court. After years of appeals, the Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of the ACA in 2021.
NOW: The Second Trump Administration Has The ACA In Its Crosshairs. In his second term, President Trump has picked up right where he left off in 2020, cutting nearly 90 percent of ACA Navigator funding once again, shortening the open enrollment period again, and imposing new requirements making it more difficult to enroll in marketplace plans. His administration is also targeting core parts of the ACA; he endorsed plans to slash Medicaid expansion funding and his administration has targeted preventive services like vaccines that are covered under the ACA. The Trump White House is also firing thousands of government employees at HHS who ensure that the ACA continues to be enforced and implemented without interruption.

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FACT SHEET: Medicaid is an Economic Game Changer, But Republicans Want to Slash the Program and Leave Families Behind

This Week, Protect Our Care Highlights the Economic Benefits of Medicaid As Part of the “Hands Off Medicaid” Campaign

Medicaid currently serves over 72 million people, that’s one in five Americans. As an essential pillar of our health care system, Medicaid covers seniors in nursing homes, children, people with disabilities, and working people who don’t receive health insurance through their employer. Yet, Trump and his Republicans allies are waging a relentless attack on Medicaid, aiming to cut almost $880 billion in Medicaid funding to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and large corporations. From reducing poverty levels and inequality to creating more jobs, Medicaid has served as a bedrock of economic growth and development since its introduction. These Republican cuts will gut one of America’s largest health care insurers, leaving small businesses, working families, seniors, rural hospitals, and Americans across the country to suffer the consequences.

The Republican plan for Medicaid prioritizes billionaires over working families and the most vulnerable Americans. These Medicaid cuts alone will slash the income of the bottom fifth of the country by 7.4 percent, and the second fifth by 1.7 percent, meaning over 136 million Americans will have less money, less access to care, and less economic opportunity, all so Republicans can make the rich richer and poor poorer.

Protect Our Care is continuing its “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign with theme weeks to underscore the importance of Medicaid across the country. Alongside partners, lawmakers, and other advocates, Protect Our Care is working to defend Medicaid from the Republican-led plan to slash funding to pay for another round of tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. This week aims to highlight the economic impacts of the Medicaid program in communities around the country. Read more here.

Medicaid Reduces Personal Debt and Prevents Working Americans from Declaring Bankruptcy. Medicaid enrollees have been found to have significantly lower medical debt with around a $3.4 billion difference in just the first two years of Medicaid expansion’s existence, as well as better credit terms worth $520 million per year of enrollment. A 2020 study of around 5 million credit reports found that medical debt has decreased by 12 percent in Medicaid expansion states compared to only 1 percent in non-expansion states, reducing medical debt by $5.89 billion over just two years. Studies estimate that approximately 50 percent of the decline in Chapter 7 bankruptcy rates between 2014-2018 can directly attributed to people gaining Medicaid expansion coverage. Other studies show a 10 percentage point increase in Medicaid eligibility is associated with an 8 percent reduction in personal bankruptcies. This doesn’t stop at debt though: the bottom 10th percentile of earners in Medicaid expansion states have seen a 22.4 percent boost in their income, compared to only 11.4 percent in non-expansion states and Medicaid expansion has been shown to directly contribute to fewer evictions. Other research has found that Medicaid expansion also caused a “significant” reduction in poverty.

Medicaid Secures, Protects, and Provides Opportunities For Our Future Generations. Approximately 31.5 million children in the United States are enrolled in Medicaid, that’s around 40 percent of all enrollees. In 2021, the child uninsured rate was 8.3 percent in states which refused to expand Medicaid, compared to only 4.6 percent in states that adopted expansion. If holdout states expanded Medicaid, the number of uninsured children would drop by 7.3 percent. Medicaid eligibility during childhood lowers the high school dropout rate, raises college enrollment, and increases four-year college attainment. Medicaid also has a positive impact on children’s employment opportunities later in life. For each additional year of Medicaid eligibility as a child, adults by age 28 had higher earnings and made $533 additional cumulative tax payments due to their higher incomes. One 2020 report found that children who received health insurance through Medicaid were less likely to die young, more likely to be employed in their adult life, and less likely to develop a disability as an adult. This corroborates multiple other studies showing Medicaid pays for itself with children becoming higher tax-paying citizens who are less likely to be incarcerated and less likely to have chronic illnesses developed in childhood. Simply put, expanding Medicaid for children led to an 80 percent return to the government in the long run.

Medicaid Reduces Uncompensated Care Costs for Hospitals, Allowing Them to Remain Open, Maintain Good Jobs, and Provide Quality Care. Medicaid is essential in preventing hospitals from taking on unbearable financial loss associated with treating uninsured individuals. On average, uninsured people cost a hospital around $800 each. In 2012 alone, prior to the ACA coverage expansions, hospitals in the U.S. provided over $46 billion in uncompensated care. In an era where hospital closures predominately affect disadvantaged communities, this is spending that can’t be maintained. After 2014, hospital uncompensated care expenditures fell significantly in Medicaid expansion states, though not in non-expansion states; one study showed that uncompensated care fell by $2.8 million and Medicaid revenue rose by $3.2 million per hospital annually in states which adopted Medicaid expansion. As well, Medicaid is a lifeline for older Americans with around 6 in 10 nursing home residents relying on continuing funding.

Medicaid Strengthens Rural Economies. Medicaid expansion does more than provide vital health coverage to more Americans, it is also one of the pillars in maintaining thriving rural economies. For rural areas that often have high unemployment rates, hospitals contribute significantly to local economies by employing large numbers of people with relatively high-paying jobs. Medicaid helps fund rural hospitals, which employ 10 percent of all employees in rural counties. When rural hospitals close, communities can lose a staggering number of jobs, both within and outside of the health care sector. The closure of one rural hospital can eliminate 220 jobs immediately. A 2016 analysis identified 673 rural hospitals at risk of closing and estimated that if those hospitals shut down, 99,000 health care jobs in rural communities would be lost. Over 75 percent of all rural hospital closures from 2010 to 2021 occurred in states that had not adopted Medicaid expansion. Rural hospitals in Medicaid expansion states are 62 percent less likely to close. Over 700 rural hospitals — one-third of all rural hospitals in the country — are currently at risk of closure, hundreds of which are in non-expansion states.

Republican Efforts to Prevent Expanding Medicaid Have Led to Fewer Jobs and Weaker Economies. Republicans in South Carolina have staunchly refused to expand Medicaid to over 345,000 people. This has left over 180,000 South Carolinians in an insurance coverage gap that prevents them from accessing life-saving health care. The battle against Medicaid expansion has also continued to stifle the economic growth of South Carolina, with some projections showing that adopting expansion will produce a 9:1 statewide economic return on investment in the program. The Republican opposition to Medicaid expansion in Tennessee has meant that over $20 billion in potential funding to the state has been forfeited since 2014. Around 194,000 people would be eligible for low-cost health coverage if expansion was adopted and over 15,000 new jobs would be created in Tennessee. Meanwhile, reports from Ohio and Michigan found that Medicaid expansion helped enrollees retain employment or effectively look for work. Relatedly, a study from the University of Kansas found that people with disabilities are much more likely to be employed in states that have expanded Medicaid coverage

Republican Cuts To Medicaid Will Gouge State Budgets. Republican plans will create at least a $50 billion hole in state Medicaid budgets to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. States rely on federal funding to provide crucial services such as nursing home care, prescription drug coverage, and complex care for children with disabilities. Most states rely on provider taxes to receive this crucial federal funding, but Republicans in Congress are threatening to prohibit states from using this critical source of funds at a time states are already facing immense budget pressure and fiscal uncertainty from a number of factors including expiring pandemic-era funding, increasing health care costs, new high-cost prescription drugs, and workforce challenges. Republican proposals will only increase this uncertainty and undercut states’ ability to continue to provide these crucial services to hardworking Americans.

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THIS WEEK: Events Across the Country Call On Republicans to Put an End to Their War on American Health Care

***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR MARCH 18 – MARCH 23***

Protect Our Care Holds Events In Alaska, Arizona, California, Iowa, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin

This week, Protect Our Care is hosting events across the nation headlined by U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08), U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03), Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03), and Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) calling on Republicans to put an end to their war on health care. Protect Our Care is also joining events alongside SEIU to discuss the importance of Medicaid to patients, workers, and communities. Republicans are trying to cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. At the same time, they’re trying to take away critical tax credits from working families, which will raise costs for millions. Speakers will address the urgent need for Congress to stop Republican efforts to slash Medicaid and raise premiums, and they will call on lawmakers to protect affordable access to health care for Americans, not take it away.

TUESDAY

ARIZONA:
WHO:
U.S. Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03)
Marcos Castillo, Medicaid Storyteller
Les Braswell, Honest Arizona
Dr. Larry DeLuca, Emergency Room Physician

WHAT: ACA tax credits and Medicaid Defense Press Conference

WHERE: Zoom Registration Link

WHEN: Tuesday, March 18 at 9 AM AZ // 12 PM ET

CALIFORNIA
WHO:
Health Care Advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Rally

WHERE: Rep. Young Kim’s Office, 180 N. Riverview Dr. Suite 150, Anaheim, CA 92808

WHEN: Tuesday, March 18 at TBA

NEW YORK:
WHO: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies
Providers
Members of 1199SEIU
National Nurses United
Doctors and CEO of OBH Dr. Scott
Dr. Judith Flores, pediatrician

WHAT: House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jefferies Medicaid Day of Action Press Conference

WHERE: Interfaith Medical Center (1st floor Conference Room), 1545 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11213

WHEN: March 18 at 10 AM ET

PENNSYLVANNIA:
WHO:
Antoinette Kraus, Pennsylvania Health Access Network
Becky Ludwick, PA Partnerships for Children
Jennifer Garman, Esq., Disability Rights Pennsylvania
Michael Berman, Protect Our Care

WHAT: Medicaid 101 Press Briefing with Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN) and Health Care Advocates

WHERE: Zoom Registration Link

WHEN: Tuesday, March 18th at 11 AM ET

VIRGINIA:
WHO:
U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (VA-03)

WHAT: Medicaid Round Table

WHERE: Park Place Family Medical Center: 155 Kingsley Lane, Suite 320, Norfolk, VA, 23505

WHEN: Tuesday, March 18 at 10 AM ET

RSVP: Press interested in covering the event should email Austin Barbera at [email protected]

WHO:
Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04)
Senator Ghazala Hashmi (SD-15), Chair, Senate Education & Health Committee
Delegate Mark Sickles (HD-17), Chair, House Appropriations Health & Human Services Subcommittee
Dr. Danielle Avula, MD, Associate Medical Director, CrossOver Healthcare Ministry

WHAT: Medicaid Defense Event with Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan and Health Care Advocates

WHERE: 1000 Bank Street Richmond, VA 23219 Senate Briefing Room, Room 400

WHEN: Tuesday, March 18 at 3 PM ET

WEDNESDAY

ALASKA
WHO:
Health care advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Rally

WHERE: TBA

WHEN: Wednesday, March 19 at TBA

MAINE
WHO:
Health care advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Rally

WHERE: Bangor, ME

WHEN: Wednesday, March 19 at TBA

NEW YORK
WHO:
Health care advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Town Hall

WHERE: Staten Island, New York

WHEN: Wednesday, March 19 at TBA

PENNSYLVANIA
WHO:
Mike Maguire, AFSCME
Steve Catanese, SEIU
Melissa Reed, President and CEO – Planned Parenthood Keystone

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action “Medicaid Accountability Town Hall”

WHERE: AFSCME Conference Center, 150 S 43rd St, Harrisburg, PA

WHEN: Wednesday, March 19 at 5 PM ET

THURSDAY

CALIFORNIA
WHO:
Health care advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Town Hall

WHERE: Tulare, CA

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at TBA

NORTH CAROLINA:
WHO:
State Representative Julie von Haefen (D-NV-36)

WHAT: Medicaid Defense Press Conference

WHERE: Register for the Zoom here [Registration required]

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 11 AM ET

WISCONSIN:
WHO:
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Tyler Engel, Storyteller
Chad Sobieck, Storyteller
Chris Witt, Advanced Employment/Host
Christie Whiting, Storyteller
Cindy Piotrow, Storyteller
Kathy Seiler, Storyteller
Joe Zepecki, Protect Our Care Wisconsin

WHAT: Medicaid Defense Press Conference

WHERE: Email Joe Zepecki at [email protected] for location

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 10 AM CT // 11 AM ET

PENNSYLVANNIA
WHO:
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
Make The Road Pennsylvania
PA House Elected Officials
Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates
Michael Berman, Protect Our Care Pennsylvania

WHAT: SEIU Medicaid Week of Action “Medicaid Accountability Town Hall” in Bethlehem

WHERE: Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St, Bethlehem, PA

WHEN: Thursday, March 20 at 6 PM ET

FRIDAY

WISCONSIN:
WHO:
Governor Tony Evers (D-WI)
Cierra Chesir, Storyteller
Krisjon Olson, Storyteller
Joe Zepecki, Protect Our Care Wisconsin

WHAT: ACA Anniversary Press Conference

WHERE: Register for the Zoom here [Registration required]

WHEN: Friday, March 21 at 10:30 AM CT // 11:30 AM ET

IOWA:
WHO:
Iowa health care advocates and storytellers
Amy Adams, Protect Our Care Wisconsin

WHAT: ACA Anniversary Press Conference

WHERE: Register for the Zoom here [Registration required]

WHEN: Friday, March 21 at 1 PM CT // 2 PM ET

SATURDAY

NEW YORK
WHO:
Health care advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Town Hall

WHERE: Peekskill, NY

WHEN: Saturday, March 22 at TBA

VIRGINIA
WHO:
Health care advocates

WHAT: Medicaid Week of Action Rally

WHERE: VA-02

WHEN: Saturday, March 22 at TBA

SUNDAY

CALIFORNIA
WHO:
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17)
California Medicaid advocates and storytellers

WHAT: Benefits Over Billionaires Tour

WHERE: Martin Luther King Community Center, 1000 S Owens St, Bakersfield, CA 93307

WHEN: Sunday, March 23 at 11:30 AM PST

WHO:
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17)
California Medicaid advocates and storytellers

WHAT: Benefits Over Billionaires Tour

WHERE: Norco College Amphitheater, 2001 Third St, Norco, CA 92860

WHEN: Sunday, March 23 at 4:30 PM PST

WHO:
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA-17)
California Medicaid advocates and storytellers

WHAT: Benefits Over Billionaires Tour

WHERE: Peralta Canyon Park, 115 N Pinney Dr, Anaheim, CA 92807

WHEN: Sunday, March 23 at 7 PM

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Republican War on Health Care: Nationwide Headlines Make Clear That Americans Can’t Afford Republican Premium Hikes

The Republican war on health care is alive and well. Republicans in Congress have passed a budget that cuts nearly a trillion from Medicaid, ripping away coverage from millions so they can fund more tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations, including the CEOs at some of the largest drug and insurance companies. At the same time, they are trying to raise costs on millions of families by ending the cost-saving tax credits for middle-class families, setting up insurance premium increases by an average of 90 percent and allowing 5 million people to lose their health coverage. Headlines from across the nation make clear that, at a time when too many are struggling to pay the bills, Americans cannot afford Republican cuts to health care.

HEADLINES

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Insurance Director Warns of Health Premium Increases With Federal Funding in Jeopardy.

The Alaska Reinsurance Program was developed in response to skyrocketing rate increases that threatened to eliminate Alaska’s marketplace altogether. It has worked better than anticipated, sending the state roughly $700 million in federal funds since its inception to help keep Alaska’s already eye-watering health care costs in check.”

New Hampshire Business Review: Without Tax Credits, NH Residents Face Health Coverage ‘Subsidy Cliff.’

“‘These credits help people who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but still struggle to afford coverage. If they expire, many families will see significant increases in their monthly insurance costs,’ said Phil Sletten, research director at the N.H. Fiscal Policy Institute.”

Concord Monitor: Opinion: We Must Protect the Affordable Care Act for Millions.
Jayme H. Simões is a communications professional at Louis Karno & Co. in Concord who has advised numerous public policy and nonprofit organizations.

“Fifteen years later, the ACA remains a lifeline for millions. Now is the time to secure its success and ensure that every American has access to the care they need — today, tomorrow and for generations to come. Congress needs to act now.”

The Detroit News: Opinion: Protecting Premium Credits Keeps Health Care Affordable.
Mary Waters is a Detroit City Councilwoman.

“The EPTC is changing lives for millions of Michigan residents and fellow Americans by helping families buy insurance at affordable costs. Without extending the EPTC, Congress will raise costs on working families and rip health care away from people at a time when they are already struggling to pay for things such as higher rents and more costly eggs. Middle-class Michiganians will bear the burden of skyrocketing costs while billionaires get unfair tax breaks.”

Charleston Gazette Mail: Opinion: Premium Tax Cuts Vital to Health Care.
Ellen Allen is executive director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care.

“I have been on the front lines of our most vulnerable communities for almost four decades, fighting homelessness and food insecurity. I have seen first-hand the incredible impact that access to health care has, and I have seen the positive effects of these tax credits since they were enacted. Allowing these health tax credits to expire would spell disaster for almost 24 million Americans, including tens of thousands of Mountaineers.”

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Trump’s War on Health Care: Public Health Watch

Welcome to Public Health Watch, a weekly roundup from Protect Our Care tracking catastrophic activity as part of Donald Trump’s sweeping war on health care. From installing anti-vaccine zealot RFK Jr. as Secretary of HHS to empowering Elon Musk to make indiscriminate cuts to our public health infrastructure, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, Donald Trump is endangering the lives of millions of Americans. Protect Our Care’s Public Health Watch will shine a spotlight on the worst of the Trump/RFK/Musk war on vaccines, science and public health and serve as a resource for the press, public and advocacy groups to hold them accountable.

What’s Happening In Public Health?

Catastrophic Cuts Are Creating Chaos And Endangering Americans’ Health And Scientific Innovation

Washington Post: NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake The National Institutes of Health will cancel or cut back dozens of grants for research on why some people are reluctant to be vaccinated and how to increase acceptance of vaccines, according to an internal email obtained by The Washington Post on Monday. The email, titled “required terminations — 3/10/25,” shows that on Monday morning, the agency “received a new list … of awards that need to be terminated, today. It has been determined they do not align with NIH funding priorities related to vaccine hesitancy and/or uptake.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of NIH’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, has disparaged vaccines for years. He gained national notoriety over the past two decades by promoting misinformation about vaccines and a conjectured link to autism, drawing widespread condemnation from the scientific community. It is unclear if Kennedy had a role, directly or indirectly, in the move to cancel these grants. But his ascendancy to HHS leadership has caused a stir in the research community. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, another part of HHS, was asked by the Trump administration to launch a study into a possible connection between vaccines and autism, despite repeated research that shows no link between the two.

KFF Health News: Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants
Washington Post: Her research grant mentioned ‘hesitancy.’ Now her funding is gone.

Politico: HHS braces for a reorganization The Trump administration is readying to slash the Department of Health and Human Services workforce again, according to seven people familiar with the plans who were granted anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the changes. The announcement could come soon, three of the people said. HHS employees have braced for changes after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took over as health secretary in early February. In addition to Kennedy’s goals, the Trump administration has tasked him with downsizing key agencies and overhauling their policy priorities. As part of that, HHS agencies were asked to submit budgetary plans, including workforce reductions. Discussions of a reorganization come as the courts are pushing back on Trump’s initial attempts to shrink the federal government. On Thursday, federal district court Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ordered agencies to immediately rehire the tens of thousands of probationary employees fired in February under the Department of Government Efficiency initiative. It’s unclear whether Alsup’s decision would dissuade the administration, which is likely to appeal the decision, from making further cuts. Cuts are expected agency wide, according to the people. More specifically, job cuts could impact staff working with the assistant secretary for technology policy and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, according to four of the people, as well as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Administration for Children and Families, three of the people said.

Stat: At NIH, ‘everyone is on edge’ as they brace for deep cuts and more centralized control With the National Institutes of Health facing deep workforce cuts and little information from agency leadership about how those cuts will be made, scientists, administrators, and other employees at the nation’s premier funder of biomedical research are reeling, afraid and confused. “Nobody feels like their job is safe. Everyone is on edge,” said Kim Hasenkrug, an NIH scientist emeritus with knowledge of ongoing activities at Rocky Mountain Laboratories. “They’re trying to hide these numbers. Even the top people can’t keep track because they’re hiring and firing so much. Direct supervisors of those who were terminated didn’t even know that it was happening.” The pending cuts add to what has already been two months of stress, uncertainty, shifting policies around funding, communications and travel, firings and, in some cases, rehirings — all before President Trump’s nominee for NIH commissioner, Jay Bhattacharya, has been confirmed by the Senate.

New York Times: Federal Agency Dedicated to Mental Illness and Addiction Faces Huge Cuts Every day, Dora Dantzler-Wright and her colleagues distribute overdose reversal drugs on the streets of Chicago. They hold training sessions on using them and help people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction return to their jobs and families. They work closely with the federal government through an agency that monitors their productivity, connects them with other like-minded groups and dispenses critical funds that keep their work going. But over the last few weeks, Ms. Wright’s phone calls and emails to Washington have gone unanswered. Federal advisers from the agency’s local office — who supervise her group, the Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition, as well as addiction programs throughout six Midwestern states and 34 tribes — are gone. “We just continue to do the work without any updates from the feds at all,” Ms. Wright said. “But we’re lost.” By the end of this week, the staff of the agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, could be cut by 50 percent, according to senior staff members at the agency and congressional aides who attended briefings by Trump officials. With just under 900 employees and a budget of $7.2 billion for large state grants and individual nonprofits that address addiction and mental illness, SAMHSA (pronounced SAM-sah) is relatively small. But it addresses two of the nation’s most urgent health problems and has generally had bipartisan support.

Stat: ‘Deliberate trauma’: SAMHSA employees detail a federal agency in shambles The new administration’s decision to fire a tenth of the workers at the federal government agency that oversees mental and behavioral health will imperil efforts to curb suicides and drug overdose deaths, according to current and former employees. Roughly 100 employees of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration were let go according to insiders’ estimates. That’s more than 10% of the agency’s workforce, the 2025 fiscal report shows. The stories from former and current workers, who spoke with STAT on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, mirror similar news of chaos and confusion spilling out of other health agencies, as the Trump administration laid off probationary employees, mostly without notice and often under false allegations of poor performance. The actions, one employee said, were causing “deliberate trauma.”

HuffPost: Trump Administration Shutting Down HHS Legal Offices That Help Fight Fraud The Trump administration plans to shut down a half dozen regional offices at the Department of Health and Human Services that work on everything from violations of nursing home safety standards to fraudulent hospital billing. The regional offices are part of the Office of General Counsel, whose attorneys are basically the in-house lawyers for HHS. They advise the massive agency on how to write, publicize and enforce standards for a variety of federal health programs ― and what to do when a person, organization or business may be violating those standards.

Mother Jones: ‘Health Security Is At Risk’: Inside the Purge of HHS I spoke with five HHS workers over the past two days who are eligible for the buyouts, three of whom said they plan to try to take it. Two others said they will stay in their jobs. Each one characterizes the choice as a daunting one: Leave and lose income and abandon critical work, or stay and try to continue to make a difference in public health as officials at the highest levels of government seem hellbent on undermining them and imposing burdensome working conditions. “Somebody has to stay to help clean up the mess that they’re most likely going to make,” a public health advisor on infectious diseases at the CDC told me. “If you want to get rid of me, you’re basically going to drag me kicking and screaming out of here.”

ProPublica: National Cancer Institute Employees Can’t Publish Information on These Topics Without Special Approval Employees at the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, received internal guidance last week to flag manuscripts, presentations or other communications for scrutiny if they addressed “controversial, high profile, or sensitive” topics. Among the 23 hot-button issues, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica: vaccines, fluoride, peanut allergies, autism. While it’s not uncommon for the cancer institute to outline a couple of administration priorities, the scope and scale of the list is unprecedented and highly unusual, said six employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. All materials must be reviewed by an institute “clearance team,” according to the records, and could be examined by officials at the NIH or its umbrella agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Staffers and experts worried that the directive would delay or halt the publication of research. “This is micromanagement at the highest level,” said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. The list touches on the personal priorities of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has repeatedly promoted medical conspiracy theories and false claims.

Stat: Former NIH director Francis Collins, once beloved in Washington, now worries for his safety there As Francis Collins, longtime director of the National Institutes of Health, took to the steps below the Lincoln Memorial on Friday for a sound check before speaking at the Stand Up for Science rally, he was confronted by an agitated protester who warned, “You’re going to prison.” The incident was witnessed by a reporter from STAT, and the man afterward identified himself only as “Jeff” and said he was there to protest Collins’ oversight of NIH, and specifically the agency’s funding of gain-of-function research at a lab in Wuhan, China, where some believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have originated. “He’s an indicted felon, he lied before Congress,’’ Jeff, baselessly, told the reporter. The confrontation was the latest public manifestation of the dramatically altered public image of Collins, from a near-legendary geneticist who led the Human Genome Project and was beloved by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — and was asked to stay on by President Trump in his first term — to a target demonized by Trump’s Make America Great Again followers. Collins told STAT he is so concerned for his personal safety that he has hired security at his home.

Chaotic Firings and Re-Hirings:

Cruel and Destructive Policy Changes:

Associated Press: Funding cuts to NIH research grants impact graduate school admissions
Bloomberg: Trump’s Science Cuts Have Thrown the Research World Into Chaos
Scripps News: Government panel steps in after FDA cancels advisory meeting on flu shot recommendations
Washington Post; A mural of Tony Fauci was meant to inspire staff. Then NIH took it down.
Politico: Spending bill slashes funding for DOD program that includes women’s health research
Stat: Harvard Medical physicians sue over removal of articles mentioning ‘LGBTQ’ from government website
New York Times: Johns Hopkins to Cut More Than 2,000 Workers Funded by Federal Aid
CBS: Hospital Gun-Violence Prevention Programs May Be Caught in US Funding Crossfire

RFK Jr. Is An Extreme Anti-Vaxxer Who’s Already Breaking His “Assurances” To Key Republicans To Get Confirmed

NBC: Kennedy spends first month as health secretary downplaying vaccines and targeting food additives A month into his new role as health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is beginning to make his priorities for the country clear — and confirming some public health experts’ worst fears. Since Kennedy was sworn in Feb. 13, the agencies he leads have canceled or postponed meetings about flu shots and other vaccines and announced plans to investigate already debunked links between vaccines and autism. He has downplayed the importance of vaccination in the Texas measles outbreak while endorsing unproven remedies for the highly contagious disease. At the same time, Kennedy has begun to act on his long-standing concerns about the U.S. food system, directing the Food and Drug Administration to tighten a rule about the use of food additives and railing against seed oils in a Fox News interview. As a whole, these actions and statements indicate that Kennedy has not abandoned some of the fringe beliefs that made him a controversial pick. His early moves on vaccines have worried health experts, who fear he is sowing confusion that could ultimately lead to the spread of preventable diseases.

New York Times: Without Offering Proof, Kennedy Links Measles Outbreak to Poor Diet and Health In a sweeping interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, outlined a strategy for containing the measles outbreak in West Texas that strayed far from mainstream science, relying heavily on fringe theories about prevention and treatments. He issued a muffled call for vaccinations in the affected community, but said the choice was a personal one. He suggested that measles vaccine injuries were more common than known, contrary to extensive research. He asserted that natural immunity to measles, gained through infection, somehow also protected against cancer and heart disease, a claim not supported by research. He cheered on questionable treatments like cod liver oil, and said that local doctors had achieved “almost miraculous and instantaneous” recoveries with steroids or antibiotics. The worsening measles outbreak, which has largely spread through a Mennonite community in Gaines County, has infected nearly 200 people and killed a child, the first such death in the United States in 10 years. Another suspected measles death has been reported in New Mexico, where cases have recently increased in a county that borders Gaines County.

Rolling Stone: RFK Jr. Reminds Everyone He’s Not a Huge Fan of Vaccines in Bonkers Fox Interview As a major measles outbreak spreads out of West Texas into other states, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to spread a confusing message about vaccine safety. In an interview with Fox News that aired on Tuesday, Kennedy touted the vaccine — but also suggested that the best way to get lifetime immunity from the measles is to simply become infected with measles, and that the measles vaccine is dangerous to those who take it. “It used to be — when you and I were kids — that everybody got measles. And the measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection. The vaccine doesn’t do that,” Kennedy told Sean Hannity from inside the Steak & Shake fast food restaurant where the interview was conducted. “The vaccine is effective for some people for life, for many people it wanes.”

New York Times: Keeping With Kennedy’s Advice, Measles Patients Turn to Unproven Treatments Struggling to contain a raging measles epidemic in West Texas, public health officials increasingly worry that residents are relying on unproven remedies endorsed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, and postponing doctor visits until the illness has worsened. Hospitals and officials sounded an alarm this week, issuing a notice explaining which measles symptoms warranted immediate medical attention and stressing the importance of timely treatment. “I’m worried we have kids and parents that are taking all of these other medications and then delaying care,” said Katherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, Texas, where many of the sickest children in this outbreak have been hospitalized. Some seriously ill children had been given alternative remedies like cod liver oil, she added. “If they’re so, so sick and have low oxygen levels, they should have been in the hospital a day or two earlier,” she said.

The Guardian: RFK Jr praises beef tallow on Fox News show with burger and fries Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, appeared with a cheeseburger and fries in a nationally televised interview on Fox News – a highly unusual move for a federal health official. The appearance, in which he endorsed the decision of the burger chain Steak ‘n Shake to cook its fries in beef tallow, comes as Kennedy has attacked seed oils and made claims about the measles vaccine that lack context. “We are poisoning ourselves and it’s coming principally from these ultra-processed foods,” said Kennedy, while seated at a table with the Fox News host Sean Hannity. “President Trump wants us to have radical transparency and incentivize companies like this one to switch traditional ingredients for beef tallow,” Kennedy added, before he was delivered a double cheeseburger and french fries at a restaurant location in Florida. Kennedy has moved to make the health department significantly less transparent using a little known provision called the “Richardson waiver”. In multiple interviews, Kennedy has claimed seed oils are harmful to health and that fats, such as beef tallow, are preferable. The advice contradicts that of the American Heart Association (AHA), the largest nation’s largest non-profit focused on heart disease. A 2017 review by the organization found replacing saturated fats such as beef tallow, lard and coconut oil with unsaturated vegetable oils could reduce cardiovascular disease at rates “similar to the reduction achieved by statin treatment”, according to clinical trials.

Washington Post: Steak ’n Shake was struggling. It turned to beef tallow — and MAGA. Steak ’n Shake was looking for change. The Indianapolis-based fast food chain for burgers and milkshakes replaced its leadership after a lackluster 2024. In mid-January, it announced that all of its restaurants would switch to cooking their french fries with beef tallow. Executives said the move would make for tastier fries. It also aligned Steak ’n Shake with President Donald Trump’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made replacing seed oils a key plank of his plans to overhaul America’s food industry. Conservatives hailed Steak ’n Shake’s decision as a win for Trump’s controversial Cabinet pick. The company leaned in. “We RFK’ed our fries,” Steak ’n Shake COO Dan Edwards said in a February Fox News interview. Now, Steak ’n Shake’s X account posts images of Tesla-themed storefronts on Mars and slogans like “Make Frying Oil Tallow Again” printed on MAGA-esque red hats. The account reposted endorsements from conservative firebrands like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and Laura Loomer, who snapped a picture of herself dining at the establishment.

NPR: RFK says most vaccine advisers have conflicts of interest. A report shows they don’t Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to purge conflicts of interest from the government agencies he’s now in charge of, alleging close ties between employees and the pharmaceutical industry. In his confirmation hearings for the role, he took aim at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee that plays a key role in setting policies around vaccine schedules and access, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. Kennedy said on Jan. 29 of the committee: “I think 97% of the people on it had conflicts. I think we need to end those conflicts and make sure that scientists are doing unobstructed science.” He was citing an older government report on ethics disclosures, which he said came from a “government oversight investigation committee.” NPR tracked down that 2009 report, spoke with those involved with the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee at the time, and learned that Kennedy’s statement about it is inaccurate.

Stat: RFK Jr.’s ‘MAHA’ commission meets for the first time — behind closed doors An array of federal government officials and “Make America Healthy Again” moms met Tuesday in what was the first convening of a new commission led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The meeting, held in Washington on Tuesday afternoon, was not made public or announced before it occurred. It marked the start of a monthslong effort, birthed by President Donald Trump’s pen on Feb. 13, which aims to identify and then solve the nation’s chronic ills. The meeting was first reported by the New York Times. STAT independently verified that it took place. Among those empaneled to the MAHA commission are domestic policy advisers, as well as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who were both in attendance Tuesday. The leaders of the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health are also appointed to the commission. Trump’s picks for those roles — Marty Makary, Dave Weldon and Jay Bhattacharya — have yet to be confirmed.

Politico: Kennedy gives food company CEOs an ultimatum Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a stark ultimatum to major food company CEOs in a closed-door meeting this week: Ban certain artificial dyes from your products or the government will do it for you. Kennedy on Monday pressed leaders of companies like PepsiCo, General Mills, Tyson Foods, Smucker’s, Kraft Heinz and Kellogg’s for commitments to reduce food additives, according to a readout of the meeting sent to industry stakeholders and viewed by POLITICO. It was the Health and Human Services secretary’s first major meeting with the very executives he’d spent months accusing of making Americans sick.

Disastrous, Dangerous Appointments

Rolling Stone: Dr. Oz Won’t Commit to Protecting Medicaid The Department of Health and Human Services is already headed by a vaccine skeptic, and the Trump administration would like to install a TV doctor to run the nation’s most vital health care systems. Dr. Mehmet Oz sat today for a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee to discuss his nomination as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. When asked by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) an incredibly basic question — if he would oppose cuts to Medicaid — Oz declined to answer the question directly. “I cherish Medicaid, and I’ve worked within the Medicaid environment quite extensively, as I highlighted, practicing at Columbia University,” Oz said.

Wyden interjected, restating his request that Oz answer directly. “I want to make sure that the patients today in the future have resources if they get ill, the way you protect Medicaid is by making sure that it’s viable at every level,” Oz replied, once again skirting the question. “Let the record show that I asked a witness, who said he cherishes this program, ‘will you agree to oppose cuts,’ and he would not answer a yes or no question,” Wyden told the committee.

Reuters: US Senate Memo says Dr. Oz, Trump Medicare nominee, may have underpaid taxes for 3 years Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician nominated by President Donald Trump to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, appears to have underpaid his social security and Medicare taxes in recent years, according to a memo drafted by Democratic staffers on the Senate Finance Committee. “Dr. Oz may have significantly underpaid his Social Security and Medicare taxes in 2021, 2022, and 2023–with negligible Social Security or Medicare taxes paid in 2022 and no Social Security or Medicare taxes paid in 2023,” the memo, seen by Reuters, states.

Fortune: Health care for more than 100 million Americans is being turned over to a supplement salesman President Donald Trump’s health officials want you to take your vitamins. Mehmet Oz, the nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has fed calves on camera to tout the health wonders of bovine colostrum on behalf of one purveyor in which he has a financial stake. Janette Nesheiwat, the potential surgeon general, sells her own line of supplements. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, said he takes more vitamins than he can count—and has suggested he’ll ease restrictions on vitamins, muscle-building peptides, and more. Their affection for supplements might lead to tangible consequences for Americans’ health regimens. Late in the 2024 campaign, Kennedy claimed the federal government was waging a “war on public health” by suppressing a vast array of alternative therapies—many of them supplements, like nutraceuticals and peptides. In February, Trump announced the “President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission” with Kennedy at the helm, calling for “fresh thinking” on nutrition, “healthy lifestyles,” and other pathways toward combating chronic disease. Spokespeople for Kennedy did not reply to multiple requests for comment. Supplements can be beneficial, particularly in aiding fetal development or warding off anemia, said Pieter Cohen, a general internist at the Cambridge Health Alliance, who researches supplements. “I recommend supplements routinely,” he said. Still, “the majority of use is not necessary to improve or maintain health,” and due to only light regulations, supplement makers may make claims about their benefits without sufficient evidence, Cohen said. “No supplement needs to get tested or vetted by the FDA before it’s sold.” Consumer watchdogs, regulators, and researchers have reported cases of finding traces of lead and other toxins in supplements. And a 2015 analysis from a team of federal health researchers attributed about 23,000 emergency department visits annually to supplement use. (The Council for Responsible Nutrition, the industry’s lobbying group, challenged the findings, arguing some visits were due to over-the-counter and homeopathic medicines that should not have been included.)

Washington Post: White House abruptly pulls Dave Weldon’s CDC nomination before hearing The White House has withdrawn the nomination of Dave Weldon, a former Florida congressman who questioned vaccine safety, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid concerns he could not be confirmed by the Senate. The Senate health committee announced Weldon’s nomination had been pulled shortly before he was scheduled to testify Thursday morning before the panel. The pulling of Weldon marks a rare setback for a Trump administration nominee. The Senate has confirmed every controversial choice brought to a full vote on the floor to date. Weldon, a 71-year-old doctor who left Congress in 2009, drew scrutiny for his longtime promotion of the false claims that vaccines can cause autism. In a four-page statement, Weldon said a White House assistant called him Wednesday night to inform him his nomination was being withdrawn because he lacked the votes to be confirmed. Weldon said Republican senators concerned about his vaccine views doomed his nomination and that he suspected the pharmaceutical industry also played a role.

Public Health Threats

CNN: Measles outbreak holds higher risk for pregnant women, babies A newborn with measles is among the cases reported in the growing West Texas outbreak, Lubbock public health officials say. Experts say the case serves as a reminder that the disease can be especially dangerous for pregnant women and very young children. “This is how widespread this epidemic is, that it’s even showing up in unvaccinated pregnant women,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. At least two pregnant women have been infected in this outbreak, according to officials at Covenant Hospital in Lubbock. Eighty-one measles cases have been reported in children ages 4 and younger across Texas and New Mexico. This is part of the larger outbreak that now spans three states, including Oklahoma, and totals 258 reported cases. The infant, who has recovered, was born to an unvaccinated mother who was recently infected with the virus, according to Katherine Wells, director of Lubbock Public Health.

NBC: Newborn babies exposed to measles in Texas hospital
New York Times: For Parents of Babies Near Measles Outbreaks, a Painful Waiting Game

CNN: Three months into 2025, US measles cases surpass total for 2024 Three months into 2025, the United States has surpassed the total number of measles cases in the country for all of last year. The high number of cases is driven by a multistate outbreak that has reached nearly 300 cases. As of Friday, Texas has reported 259 cases this year, New Mexico has tallied 35 cases and Oklahoma reported two. Experts say this is probably a severe undercount. In 2024, there were 285 total measles cases reported in the US, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CNN tally suggests that there have been at least 320 cases so far in 2025, including 296 associated with the multistate outbreak.

New York Times: Where U.S. Measles Outbreaks Are Spreading

Stat: Why health experts fear the West Texas measles outbreak may be much larger than reported The growing measles outbreak centered in West Texas, with cases reaching into New Mexico and now Oklahoma, is the country’s largest in six years. But experts say that even with more than 250 cases reported across the three states, the outbreak is likely much larger. “My gut tells me there are cases that are unreported — you don’t have to come in and get tested for measles,” said Katherine Wells, the director of public health in Lubbock, a Texas city on the edge of the outbreak where some sick children have been taken to be hospitalized. “It’s going to be a long process to get everything measles-free again in this area, but I can’t tell you if that’s 500 cases or a thousand.” Public health officials and other experts believe they are capturing only a fraction of cases for reasons that have to do with the epidemiology of the outbreak as well as reports of a lack of cooperation among some people in the areas where cases have been detected. But a large part of it is simple math.

Politico: States target mRNA shots as vaccine critic RFK Jr. takes charge in Washington A growing number of states are considering measures to limit or ban the use of messenger RNA vaccines — the latest manifestation of Covid-19 pandemic backlash. Republican policymakers in states from Florida to Idaho propose more roadblocks to the vaccines based on a mix of medical freedom rhetoric and incorrect assertions of how they work in the body. Several bills introduced in the Texas Legislature would ban the administration, manufacture or sale of mRNA vaccines there. Legislation in Kentucky would prohibit the use of mRNA vaccines in children under 18. In Idaho, a GOP state senator has proposed a 10-year moratorium on mRNA vaccine administration. While some efforts have already failed — and likely would be challenged in federal court if they succeeded — public health experts worry that their existence now could be a bellwether for the future.

Wall Street Journal: In Rural Texas, a Measles Outbreak Hasn’t Swayed Vaccine Skeptics The dusty plains of Gaines County stretch endlessly, peanut fields fading into cotton farms and oil fields, punctuated by signs touting God. This sprawling rural region is defined by oil, agriculture and a large Mennonite community—members of the Anabaptist family of churches that includes the Amish—who emigrated here from Mexico in the 1970s. Now, it is also the epicenter of a measles outbreak that has spread across nine counties since late January, leading to nearly 200 documented infections, 23 hospitalizations and the nation’s first measles-related death in a decade. The same strain of the measles is responsible for 30 reported cases across the state line in Lea County, New Mexico, where a measles-related death is under investigation. Gaines County exemplifies pockets of America where antivaccine sentiment has surged, fueled by deepening distrust in the U.S. government after the pandemic. With many states making it easier to get vaccine exemptions for school-age children, what was once a rare exception has become common. “Personal choice” is a term I heard many times when talking to Gaines County area residents about the decision to get a vaccine, even among health officials. What has long been hailed by doctors as a critical lifesaving public-health tool is now considered optional. Even a measles outbreak and death isn’t enough to drive many residents into free vaccine clinics. While that is a personal choice, deeply entrenched vaccine skepticism affects us all.

Public Health Threats Around The World:

New York Times: Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True.
The Atlantic: The World’s Deadliest Infectious Disease Is About to Get Worse
New York Times: Tuberculosis Resurgent as Trump Funding Cut Disrupts Treatment Globally
Reuters: Kenya HIV patients live in fear as US aid freeze strands drugs in warehouse
New Yorker: Atul Gawande on Elon Musk’s Attack on U.S.A.I.D.: Hundreds of Thousands Will Die
ProPublica: Trump’s Halted Agent Orange Cleanup Risks Poisoning Local Residents

Opinion and Commentary

USA Today (Rex Hupke): RFK Jr. suggests getting measles is better than getting a vaccine. This is bad
MSNBC (Dr. Kavita Patel): Don’t believe what RFK Jr. says about measles — or french fries
Stat (Paul Knoepfler): RFK Jr.’s regenerative medicine roundtable on stem cell deregulation raises red flags
Stat (Peter J. Pitts): A ‘conflict of interest-free’ FDA advisory committee policy is a terrible idea
Stat (Matthew Herper): RFK Jr. says measles vaccine routinely causes deaths. That’s not true

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STATEMENT: Republicans Pass Partisan Funding Bill That Paves the Way for Premium Hikes for Millions

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Senate passed a continuing resolution that paves the way for Republicans to rip away cost-saving tax credits for middle-class families, jeopardizing the health and financial stability of millions of people. This was one of the few legislative opportunities to protect health care for working families, but now families’ insurance premiums are set to increase by an average of 90 percent and 5 million people will lose their health coverage. This comes as Trump and his MAGA Republicans are gearing up to make the largest Medicaid cuts in history, threatening to strip coverage from millions of seniors, children, and the most vulnerable Americans, all to fund tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. In response, Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:

“Republican premium hikes are coming. Despite a tradition of bipartisanship during the budget process, Republicans jammed the measure through both chambers at the behest of Trump. By taking away the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits, Republicans are letting premium costs skyrocket at the end of the year. Working families will have to pay more or lose their health insurance entirely. While families are struggling to make ends meet, Trump is spearheading policies that will drive up health care costs and strip away coverage that millions of Americans count on. It’s clear where Trump and the Republicans’ priorities lie: in the pockets of billionaires while working families bear the cost.”

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IN THE STATES: Republicans Are Playing A Dangerous Game By Cutting Medicaid

Protect Our Care is continuing its “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign with events and activities nationwide. This week, Protect Our Care released new ads across 10 key districts featuring a lifelong Republican voter and certified nursing assistant who is against any cuts to Medicaid. House Republicans have advanced a budget resolution that includes slashing Medicaid funding by nearly $1 trillion in order to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations. Many analysts have found that these cuts to Medicaid will disproportionately harm Trump voters. New KFF polling confirms that Republicans across the country are against Medicaid cuts, with 67 percent believing Medicaid funding should increase or stay the same. Republican lawmakers are turning their backs on their constituents and their own voters by supporting these drastic cuts to Medicaid.

HEADLINES

Fox News: Trump Voter Dons MAGA Hat in Warning to House Republicans Against Medicaid Cuts.

“A self-identified nursing home employee and lifelong Republican who voted for President Donald Trump is urging House GOP lawmakers to avoid making cuts to Medicaid, as he stars in a new seven-figure ad blitz by a pro-Democrat outside group as part of its ‘Hands off Medicaid’ campaign.”

Politico Pulse: Medicaid Campaign.

“The purchase, the largest in a $10 million campaign, consists of television, digital and radio ads featuring a ‘lifelong’ GOP voter and President Donald Trump supporter urging Republicans not to make cuts to Medicaid.”

Politico Inside Congress: Medicaid Pressure Campaign.

“Left-leaning advocacy group Protect Our Care is launching a $2 million ad buy targeting key House Republicans on preserving Medicaid, our Ben Leonard reports. The ads will target several New York, California and Pennsylvania Republicans in swing districts, including Reps. Mike Lawler and Young Kim.”

Politics PA: What We’re Seeing.

“Protect Our Care is launching new ads featuring a lifelong Republican voter and Trump and MAGA supporter who is a certified nurse assistant who is against any cuts to Medicaid. The new $2 million ad buy targets 10 House Republicans, including Reps. Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) and Rob Bresnahan (PA-08), and will run on television, radio, and digital platforms.”

Inside Radio: Radio Part Of Media Mix For Medicaid Preservation Campaign.

“The campaign comes against the backdrop of a push by the House GOP’s Freedom Caucus to enact cuts to the program, a federal/state joint initiative that provides healthcare for adults and children with limited resources. According to the federal government, more than 70 million Americans were receiving Medicaid services as of October 2024.”

IN THE STATES

ALASKA

Wednesday, March 5 – Frontiersman Op-Ed by Caregiver Amber Manley Spectrum on the Importance of Protecting Medicaid: Protect Our Care Alaska placed an opinion piece by Alaska caregiver Amber Manley Spectrum, who explains how Medicaid has allowed her to stay employed and provides patients the necessary in-home care they need to stay healthy and live with dignity. “Medicaid cuts threaten to strip away that dignity,” Spectrum writes. “When my clients lose hours, I lose income, making it harder to support my own family. One client barely manages with 13 hours of care a week—forcing impossible choices between cooking, cleaning, or simply getting him showered and clean. He only leaves for doctor’s appointments, and the isolation is taking a toll on his mental health. If Medicaid is cut further, he—and many others—will have no care at all.” You can read the full op-ed here.

Wednesday, March 12 – Medicaid Rally at the Alaska State Capitol with Caregivers and Advocates: Alaska caregivers and health care advocates gathered at the Alaska State Capitol Building in Juneau to sound the alarm against Medicaid cuts, which could result in about 100,000 Alaska residents losing coverage. Edna Beebe, a caregiver who traveled to Washington, DC, in February with SEIU, explained how difficult these cuts would be, especially for caregivers like her whose positions are funded by Medicaid: “For rural Alaskans, it would be devastating,” Beebe said. “Our elders’ and children’s lives matter, They depend on Medicaid.” You can view footage from the rally here.

Juneau Empire: Alaskans across the state rally to safe Medicaid: their ‘lifeline’
KTOO: Potential Medicaid cuts could be ‘devastating’ to Alaskans, protestors in Juneau say

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Wednesday, March 5 – Sea Coast Online LTE on Protecting Medicaid for Granite Staters with Disabilities by Storyteller Susan Zimmerman: Protect Our Care New Hampshire placed an LTE by Susan Zimmerman, a mom of an adult son with disabilities who gets long-term care thanks to Medicaid. Zimmerman explains how Medicaid is a lifeline for those with disabilities who rely on it for essential health care services, including primary care, specialty care and medical equipment, and what is at stake if people like her son were no longer able to receive their health care this way. “Medicaid also supports vital home − and community-based services that help people with disabilities live independently. Without these services, many would face barriers to accessing necessary care, leading to worse health outcomes and a lower quality of life,” Zimmerman writes. “Medicaid also plays a crucial role in supporting children with disabilities. It covers 4 in 10 children nationwide and provides funding for school-based services like speech pathology, occupational therapy, and physical therapy—services that allow kids with disabilities to thrive in educational settings.” You can read the full LTE here.

NEW YORK

WKBW-TV: Christina Otero Discusses how Medicaid has helped her son with disabilities at hearing on Medicaid
MSNBC: Christina Otero Discusses how Medicaid has helped her son with disabilities at hearing on Medicaid
Instagram: AOC Post About Christina Otero

PENNSYLVANIA

Wednesday, March 5 – Medicaid Defense Event with State Representative Arvind Venkat and Health Care Advocates: Pennsylvania State Representative Arvind Venkat, MD; former Pennsylvania Secretary of Human Services and federal CMMS official Teresa Miller; Jen Graham Partyka, Registered Nurse and mother of a Medicaid recipient; Dr. Amanda Cai, Central PA cardiologist and member of the Committee to Protect Health Care; and other Medicaid advocates from across the state joined Protect Our Care Pennsylvania and Commonwealth Communications to discuss the GOP’s latest budget plan. Last week, every PA Republican in Congress voted for the budget framework that includes at least $880 billion in Medicaid cuts in order to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations. “These types of cuts to Medicaid will decimate health care coverage for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Pennsylvanians” said Representative and emergency physician Arvind Venkat, MD. “The bottom line is that the proposal from congressional Republicans and President Trump to eviscerate Medicaid to the tune of $880 billion would jeopardize the health and well-being of members of my community, my fellow Pennsylvanians, and really all Americans.”

WJAC: Proposed cuts to Medicaid (also ran during the 6pm and 11pm news hours)
WATM: Budget proposal to potentially cut significant funds from Medicaid
WJAC: Contentious cuts to Medicaid (also ran during the 6am news hour)
WWCP: Proposal to cut funds from the national Medicaid program (also ran during the 7am and 8am news hours)
WESA: PA doctors and officials push back against cuts to Medicaid
Erie News Now: PA Lawmakers Navigate State & Federal Medicaid Pressures
MSN: Proposed Medicaid cuts spark debate among Pennsylvania lawmakers
Pennsylvania Capital-Star: House Republicans’ budget threatens Medicaid for millions of Pennsylvanians, advocates say
WESA: Pennsylvania officials, medical providers sound alarm over Medicaid cuts
Penn Live: With billions in Medicaid cuts looming, Pa. health providers sound the alarm

Thursday, March 13 – SEIU Town Hall on Protecting Medicaid and Health Care Positions with Elected Officials, Community Members, Advocates and Health Care Workers: Elected Officials, Community Members, Advocates and Health Care Workers joined Protect Our Care Pennsylvania for a town hall to protect health care and union jobs and speak out about community concerns related to Regional hospital. At the town hall, organizers announced the launch of their “Coalition to Protect Regional Care and Jobs.” The coalition handed out window signs for businesses and residents at the town hall and launched an online open letter to the new owner at ProtectRegionalCareAndJobs.org. The open letter welcomes the new owner and says the community looks forward to working with them to improve care and expand services; preserve good union jobs; and address patient and community concerns. “When local hospitals are acquired, it’s critical that local needs are taken into account and that patients, communities, and workers are prioritized,” said Joanna Rosenhein, Consumer Engagement Manager at the Pennsylvania Health Access Network. “We stand ready to work collaboratively with the new coalition to ensure that Regional Hospital stays open and that patients in the area have continued access to the high-quality, affordable care they deserve.” You can read the post-event release here, and watch the full event here.

VIRGINIA

Friday, March 7 – Medicaid Roundtable with Congressman Don Beyer, SEIU, and Health Care Advocates: Protect Our Care Virginia provided storyteller Mary Lee Ruby and press support for Congressman Beyer’s Medicaid roundtable. “The House passed on a 217 to 215 vote last week the budget resolution that sets up reconciliation,” said Congressman Beyer. “They are looking for $2 trillion in cuts and they charged the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, with $880 billion of those cuts. … If you cut 1%, all of the Medicaid expansion money goes away.”

DC News Now: Northern Virginians share concern over potential Medicaid cuts to Congressman
WAMU: Rep. Beyer Medicaid Roundtable
Augusta Free Press: Congresswoman McClellan brings Medicaid recipient as guest to joint session
ALXNow: Congressman Beyer warns of devastating impact of Medicaid cuts

WEST VIRGINIA

WCHS: Del. Hollis Lewis warns Medicaid cuts could severely impact West Virginia healthcare
MSN.com: Delegate warns Medicaid cuts could severely impact West Virginia healthcare

Monday, March 3 — West Virginia News Op-Ed by Kanawha County Delegate Hollis Lewis Warning of Cuts to Medicaid: Protect Our Care West Virginia placed an opinion piece in West Virginia news by Delegate Hollis Lewis (D-Kanawha County) about why Medicaid must be protected for West Virginians, particularly for communities of color within the state. Lewis explains the GOP plan to cut federal funding for Medicaid and how this would harm the state’s health and wellbeing and deepen income and health disparities. “With Medicaid, persons from underserved communities can have routine doctor visits,medication, nursing home care, and much more,” Lewis writes. “For West Virginia, cuts to Medicaid would not only mean deepening health disparities but could put the state in financial despair: West Virginia spent nearly $5.7 billion on Medicaid for the 2023-2024 budget year, funded by more than $4.6 billion in federal funds and around $1 billion in state funds. West Virginia hospitals rely on the over $214 million in revenue from Medicaid to stay open and continue to serve their communities.” You can read the full op-ed here (full text also available here).

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Health Care for WV on the Chopping Block (Opinion)
Times-West Virginian: Health Care for West Virginians is on the Chopping Block
Real WV: OP-ED: Healthcare for West Virginians is on the chopping block .

Thursday, March 13 – Charleston Gazette-Mail Op-ed by Child Health Policy Advocate Mariah Plante About the Threats to Medicaid for Those with Disabilities: Protect Our Care West Virginia placed an opinion piece by Child Health Policy Advocate at West Virginians for Affordable Health Care Mariah Plante, who explains how Medicaid is essential for West Virginians with disabilities but currently faces potential cuts due to the Republican budget proposal. Plante writes about her older brother, who receives care through Medicaid due to his lifelong disabilities: “Since both of his biological parents have died, Matt lives with my boyfriend and I in rural Wyoming County,” Plante writes. “Even though there are few resources available for families like ours in this part of the state, Medicaid is our lifeline. It covers his medical care, eyeglasses and behavioral support, including specialists that would otherwise be totally inaccessible if we had to pay out of pocket for their services.” You can read the full op-ed here. (paywalled, full text here).

WISCONSIN

Wisconsin Examiner: Wisconsin patients, families are wary as Congress prepares for Medicaid surgery

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STATEMENT: Donald Trump Greenlights GOP Plan to Cut Medicaid to Fund Tax Breaks for the Wealthy

Washington D.C. — Donald Trump has thrown his full support behind Congressional Republicans’ plan to slash Medicaid in order to fund his tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. This comes despite his repeated promises to protect Medicaid and Medicare. Instead, Trump is putting Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security on the chopping block all to pave the way for more tax cuts for his billionaire friends.

“Their plan is to gut the health care that Americans count on to give tax breaks to rich people,” said Brad Woodhouse of Protect Our Care. “It’s clear what they’re trying to do and even clearer that Americans don’t want it. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress will make life cost more for working families so they can make life cost less for people like themselves. Trump’s empty promises have made one thing clear: his focus is on rewarding the rich, even if it means reneging on his promises and trampling on the needs of working families and the most vulnerable Americans.”

Background:

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently confirmed that the GOP plan would require the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.

Washington Post: GOP must cut Medicaid or Medicare to achieve budget goals, CBO finds

Recent analysis has shown that those most hurt by these cuts to Medicaid would be Republicans and recent polling makes clear that even Republican voters don’t support cuts.

CNN: House Republicans could face a major obstacle if they cut Medicaid: Their own districts’ health needs
Politico: Trump voters oppose Medicaid cuts, poll finds

News

STATEMENT: Fifteen Years of the Affordable Care Act Saving Lives and Republicans Are Still Trying to Rip It Away

THIS WEEK: Protect Our Care Continues Events Across the Country to Call On Republicans to Put an End to Their War on American Health Care

FACT SHEET: 15 Times Republicans Have Sabotaged The Affordable Care Act

FACT SHEET: Medicaid is an Economic Game Changer, But Republicans Want to Slash the Program and Leave Families Behind

THIS WEEK: Events Across the Country Call On Republicans to Put an End to Their War on American Health Care

Republican War on Health Care: Nationwide Headlines Make Clear That Americans Can’t Afford Republican Premium Hikes

Trump’s War on Health Care: Public Health Watch

STATEMENT: Republicans Pass Partisan Funding Bill That Paves the Way for Premium Hikes for Millions

IN THE STATES: Republicans Are Playing A Dangerous Game By Cutting Medicaid

STATEMENT: Donald Trump Greenlights GOP Plan to Cut Medicaid to Fund Tax Breaks for the Wealthy

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