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In News

HEADLINES: People Across The Country Warn of Devastation from GOP Tax Scam

Over the past week, health care advocates and everyday Americans from coast to coast have been sounding the alarm over the GOP tax bill that will kick 16 million Americans off health care in order to hand out tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. The Republican spending bill makes the biggest cut to American health care in history, decimating Medicaid and dismantling the Affordable Care Act. People are yelling from the rooftops, warning about the devastation the GOP plan will cause to seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. Every single community will feel the effects of Donald Trump and Republicans’ big, ugly bill. 

ALASKA

Anchorage Daily News: Opinion: A plea to Alaska’s congressional delegation for responsible economic policy 

  • Beyond these disturbing policy and market dislocations, the proposed budget bill imposes unconscionable safety net impairment to America’s most vulnerable population, including added work requirements and cuts to healthcare spending ($715 billion), SNAP/food stamps ($300 billion), and Medicare ($500 billion). Alaska’s 279,000 Medicaid recipients (including 109,000 children) would face about $3 billion in uncovered healthcare costs for which no safety net alternative exists.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Letter to the Editor: Budget bill is Bad for our Health

  • “If the budget bill becomes law, an overwhelming number of people will lose health care in Alaska. And many young people, like I once was, will be denied the opportunity to train and build a career for themselves. I’ve lived in Fairbanks since 2009, working and contributing to society and the economy. I have two kids who were raised in Alaska. If I had gotten pregnant or sick when I was young, then I would not have the fulfilling career and family that I have now.”

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Letter to the Editor: How is Nick Begich Working for Alaska?

  • “It is impressive that many Republican members are regretting their vote, not realizing what was in the bill. Really? They vote for legislation, and they don’t even know what it contains? Even Marjorie Taylor Green regrets her vote. Apparently, not Nick Begich. It is impressive that Elon Musk calls the bill “a disgusting abomination,” even with the massive tax cuts he’d get. Me, I’m going to do everything I can to get Nick Begich out of office next year, and elect someone who will sincerely work for Alaskans. All Alaskans.”

Anchorage Daily News: ‘Nothing you can do except stand here’: Public assistance office keeps Alaskans waiting

  • “Officials with the state Division of Public Assistance — which oversees Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and several other benefits programs in Alaska — say that to avoid a monthslong backlog, applicants should go to one of a handful of offices to meet with a case worker in person. In Anchorage, the state’s largest city, the division operates only one site.”

Anchorage Daily News: Opinion: Congress Needs to Act to Keep Health Insurance Affordable for Alaskans.

  • “Others may go without coverage altogether. The result? Delayed care, worse health outcomes, and more financial stress, particularly for rural and underserved communities that already face barriers to care.”

Anchorage Daily News: Letter to the Editor: Paying a Fair Share.

  • “Why does the Republican Big Beautiful Bill require ripping the heart out of social service needs like Medicare and Medicaid? The idea that government spending to support the needy is blowing up the deficit and the national debt is fantasy.”

Alaska Beacon: Alaska Senators Have a Chance to Protect Medicaid and Safeguard Vital Services for Alaska’s Youth.

  • “Sullivan could be a deciding vote. Will he vote in lockstep to give Outside billionaires a tax cut financed by stealing Alaskans’ health coverage, or will he stand up for his adopted state? The stakes could not be higher.”

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Letter to the Editor: A Catastrophic Health Care Loss for Medicaid Recipients.

  • “It’s pretty unanimous among the folks who follow such things that these cuts wouldn’t be a simple ‘right sizing,’ but a potential catastrophic health care loss for the nearly 300,000 Alaskans who use Medicaid.”

Ketchikan Daily News: Letter to the Editor: Call Senators.

  • “Alaska’s Rep. Nick Begich voted to pass the One Great Big Beautiful Bill that will seriously impact Medicaid and the SNAP program that feeds our children and elders. I hope Alaska’s senators will do what they’ve said they will do to make changes to support Alaska’s Medicaid and SNAP food assistance.”

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Letter to the Editor: Nick Begich is not working for Alaskans

  • “Nick Begich just voted to pass the “big beautiful bill act” — aka the “Let Them Eat Cake Act.“ Begich states this will reduce our deficit. Yet the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates it will add $3 trillion to our national debt; this on the backs of the poor and middle class. The rich will get tax breaks while SNAP food assistance and Medicaid will have drastic cuts, affecting the most vulnerable of us.”

Homer News: Sullivan Visits Homer During Weeklong Alaska Tour.

  • “Regarding proposed cuts and additional requirements and restrictions to the Medicaid and SNAP programs in the House’s version of the Big Beautiful Bill, Sullivan said that the Senate is ‘still powering through the whole bill,’ and that what he will work on, as he has done previously, is ‘unique challenges’ that Alaska has and ‘try to address them.’”

IOWA

Des Moines Register: Opinion: I lived the gift of Medicaid. It made my daughter’s 14 months possible.

  • I lived the gift of Medicaid, and I see the daily support Medicaid provides in our community. A deacon in my congregation is on Medicaid. He lives on a fixed income, so he walks to work and to church, and yet, he’s the first one there every Sunday morning. He makes the coffee. He prepares the communion trays. One Sunday, when a gentleman quietly weeped after the loss of his beloved wife of 72 years, this deacon gently placed his hand on his shoulder and held the communion tray until he was ready to be served. The patience and comfort our deacon showed that day is what Medicaid provides for Iowans. It doesn’t provide everything, just a gentle hand as we face the challenges of life.

TV Clips

WHO: Disability Advocates Call On Iowa Senators to Vote Against the “Big, Beautiful Bill” 

WHBV: Disability Advocates Call On Iowa Senators to Vote Against the “Big, Beautiful Bill”

KCAU: Disability Rights Advocates Speak Out Against the “Big, Beautiful Bill”

KCCI: Disability Rights Advocates Share Concerns About the “Big, Beautiful Bill”

KCCI: Disability Rights Advocates Share Concerns About the “Big, Beautiful Bill”

MAINE

Portland Press Herald: Opinion: What Medicaid Cuts Could Do to Maine’s Hospitals — And Its People.

  • “But they’re dead wrong about the effect cutting it would have. Because if this change goes through, it won’t just affect accounting ledgers. It will gut state budgets, slash Medicaid rolls and close more hospitals like Inland, especially in rural states like Maine, where access is already fragile.”

Portland Press Herald: Opinion: Trump’s Assault on Medicare Is Well Underway.

  • “While insisting repeatedly that he ‘won’t harm Medicare or Social Security or touch Medicaid,’ President Trump’s draconian and chaotic program eliminations, personnel firings and policy reversals reveal quite the opposite: a full assault on Medicare and its beneficiaries is well underway.”

Central Maine: Letter to the Editor: Medicaid Cuts Will Hurt Lung Cancer Patients.

  • “As a lung cancer advocate from Maine whose family has been impacted by this terrible disease, I am deeply concerned about the massive cuts to Medicaid being proposed by Congress. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Taking away coverage for millions of people will jeopardize our progress in defeating this disease.”

MINNESOTA

Red Lake Nation News: Healthcare Advocates Join Protect Our Care Minnesota As House Republicans Vote for the Largest Medicaid Cuts in History. 

  • “Minnesotans’ access to health care isn’t a bargaining chip, and they shouldn’t pay the price for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. If they get their way, Minnesotans who rely on Medicaid will be at risk of getting kicked off their coverage, rural hospitals will close, and Minnesota’s budget would be thrown into crisis. Minnesotans across the political spectrum want more access to health care, not less.”

Radio Clip

WCCO Radio: Chairperson of Hennepin County Board Speaks Out Against Proposed Federal Cuts to Medicaid 

VIRGINIA

WRIC:  Doctor Warns Hospitals Could Close if Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Becomes Law.

  • “‘There’s an overlap between the population who uses and needs Medicaid and the population that has an increased rate of chronic diseases,’ Dr. Henry Rozycki, who recently retired after 37 years at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, told 8News. Rozycki says the bill’s proposed changes to Medicaid could leave Virginians to pay the price.”

Virginian-Pilot: At Norfolk State University, Veterans Affairs Workers Decry Effects of Budget Cuts.

  • “Democratic congressional leaders, including Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Newport News), on Tuesday morning heard accounts from local leaders and experts on the effects to veterans from Trump administration’s policies.”

10 Wavy News: ‘Don’t Deny Us What Abraham Lincoln Promised Us.’ Veterans Testify to Congress on Norfolk State Campus.

  • “It means longer lines at VA medical centers and hospitals, and crowded waiting rooms,” said Robin Kelly. Del. Jackie Glass (D-Norfolk) served as a cryptographer aboard USS Nimitz and said access to health care is getting tougher, especially for those who are in crisis. “I see it my own family,” Glass said. “Trying to find a provider, specifically a mental health provider that takes TRICARE, it’s getting non-existent.”

WHRO: Staffing at the Chesapeake VA Highlighted in House Testimony at Norfolk State.

  • “‘I go to see my doctor, who is now at the Chesapeake clinic. If he says, Susan, I want you to get a scan for this. Susan, you know, I want you to get that X-ray. I gotta go all the way up to Hampton. People are scared. They’re concerned and they’re pissed off, very honestly,’ Hippen said. Hippen described the clinic as a “ghost town.””

13NewsNow: House Democratic Committee Holds Hearing on Republican Attacks on Veterans at NSU.

  • “‘It’s demoralizing. It is harmful. It is harmful to veterans. It is harmful to our communities. And it’s harmful to families of veterans.’ Del. Jackie Glass (D-Norfolk), a Navy veteran, also participated in the event. She described the proposed cuts as ‘a threat to the rightful compensation and care for vets.’ ‘This administration has dropped the ball,’ said Glass.”

ALX Now: Beyer, Herring, Ebbin Launch Speaking Tour to Combat Billions in Threatened Federal Health Care Cuts.

  • “Beyer, Herring, and Ebbin will talk about how the legislation ‘will harm Northern Virginia working families, threaten our regional economy, and throw people off their health care,’ according to a release.”

WAVY: Rep. Don Scott to discuss threats to Medicaid in Norfolk.

  • “The stop at the Slover Library is the final stop of a statewide tour called “Protect our Medicaid.” The goal of the tour, according to a release, is to raise awareness of the threat cuts to Medicaid could have on Virginia families.

TV Clips

WUSA: VA Leaders Kick Off Statewide Tour

FOX5: Rep. Beyer to Highlight Impact of Medicaid Cuts

WEST VIRGINIA

WBOY: Townhall With More Than 100 Attendees Criticizes Senator Capito and Representative Moore.

  • “The grievances of the attendees of the town hall included cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, the executive branch overstepping its power, the abuse of the rights of immigrants and what attendees generally saw as the failure of Senator Capito and Representative Moore to speak out against these actions.”

West Virginia Watch: Opinion: As if Gutting Medicaid Wasn’t Enough…

  • “West Virginia residents saw the most benefit from the increased ACA subsidies, as our state has the highest health care costs in the country. If allowed to expire at the end of the year, the 50,000 residents who get their health coverage through the Marketplace would see their monthly premiums increase by 140 percent.”

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Opinion: Don’t Take Food, Health Care Off the Table.

  • “Let’s be clear: Voting for the largest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in history is voting to take away health care and food from our most vulnerable neighbors — kids, seniors, people with disabilities and low-wage workers. These cuts are not abstract. They are personal. They are local. And they are real.”

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Opinion: A Big Beautiful Orwellian Bill.

  • “But nothing funny nor beautiful can be found in a bill that adds trillions of dollars to the national debt, strips health care and food assistance away from millions of Americans, all to pay for an extension of tax cuts, the lion’s share of which benefit the wealthiest 1%.”

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Editorial: Medicaid Cuts and the Inequality of Death.

  • “The bottom line is that, even in death, gaps in equality are a major problem in this country. Cutting vital programs will only make that worse. Ernst laughing it off is a bad sign for the future.”

Radio Clip

​​WCBC: Medicaid Cuts Could Worsen WV Maternal Mortality (Radio Interview with Ellen Allen)

ashoup
In News

ROUNDUP: Recent Polling Confirms Republican Plan To Decimate Health Care Is Wildly Unpopular

As Senate Republicans debate the GOP tax bill, recent polling confirms yet again that a majority of Americans strongly oppose their scheme to slash Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. As a result, 16 million Americans will lose life-saving coverage, including seniors, kids, people with disabilities, and hardworking families. Medicaid, the largest health insurance program in the country, remains widely popular across the board, with voters in both parties opposing any cuts. This polling shows that Republicans will face consequences at the ballot box when Americans find out they’re slashing health care and ripping coverage from millions to cover tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.

Hart Research for Families Over Billionaires, Center for America Progress Action, and Protect Our Care: Republicans’ Billionaire Tax Scam Toxically Unpopular with American Voters.

  • The major elements of the Republican budget bill – cuts to Medicaid, cuts to SNAP, and tax breaks for the wealthy – are extremely unpopular. 70% of voters expressed major concern over the bill raising families’ costs for groceries and health care through cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and ACA tax credits. 70% of voters expressed major concern over the bill raising costs on 80 million poor and middle class households. 
  • Among voters who supported Donald Trump in 2024, but with reservations, only 46% support the bill.
  • Before hearing any messaging, only 38% of voters support Republicans’ budget bill. After voters hear a neutral, factual description of the main elements of the bill, as shown below, opposition jumps by 15 points, from 46% to 61% – including 65% opposition from swing voters.

Navigator: Following the Passage of House Republicans’ Budget Plan, Initial Reactions of Battleground Constituents Are Negative and Grow More Sour as They Learn More.

  • A majority of Americans living in House battleground districts say they oppose the budget plan (net -12; 40 percent support – 52 percent oppose), including independents by 17 points (33 percent support – 50 percent oppose). This comes as a whopping 79 percent of battleground constituents have heard at least some about the budget plan that Republicans in Congress have passed.
  • The most strongly opposed policies in the budget plan are the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and cuts to programs Americans depend on:
    • This budget bans Medicaid payments to health care providers that provide abortion services, even when the services they are providing are not abortion related (54 percent strongly oppose);
    • This budget gives the largest billionaire tax cut in history, paid for by making devastating cuts to Medicaid (52 percent strongly oppose);
    • This budget makes the largest cuts to Medicaid in U.S. history, which independent auditors estimate will cause 7.6 million Americans to lose their health insurance, including veterans, seniors, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities (50 percent strongly oppose);
    • This budget raises health insurance costs by as much as $4,000 by ending tax credits for people and businesses who buy their health insurance on their own (50 percent strongly oppose); and,
    • This budget cuts more than $500 billion from Medicare (50 percent strongly oppose).

KFF: A Majority of the Public Worry About the Consequences of Proposed Medicaid Cuts. 

  • About seven in ten adults (72%) are worried that a significant reduction in federal funding for Medicaid would lead to an increase in the share of uninsured children and adults in the U.S. 
  • Seven in ten adults say they are worried that if the federal government significantly reduces its spending on Medicaid, there will be negative impacts on hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care providers in their communities (71%). 
  • Over half (54%) of U.S. adults are worried that reductions in federal Medicaid spending would negatively impact their own or their family’s ability to get and pay for health care. 

Blue Rose Research: Only a Quarter of Voters Think the Republican Tax Bill Will Help Them and Their Families.  

  • Just 25% of voters think the tax bill will help them and their families. 51% of voters (including 51% of swing voters) in critical battleground districts and states think Congress should be prioritizing lowering the cost of living and strengthening government programs like Medicaid. Just 38% of voters in these districts and states prefer the GOP’s focus on tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans.

Data for Progress: Voters Do Not Support the GOP Reconciliation Bill’s Tax and Spending Proposals.

  • While the GOP reconciliation plan is likely to contain hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts, only 10% of voters support these cuts. 
ashoup
In News

DISGUSTING: Dr. Oz Says “Prove You Matter” While Republicans Line Billionaires’ Pockets At The Expense of 16 Million Americans

Washington, D.C. – Today, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz said that people who rely on Medicaid for critical health care and life-saving coverage need to “prove that they matter.” Donald Trump and the Republicans’ tax bill will rip health care away from 16 million Americans in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. The GOP plan will destroy our health care system and cause devastation to millions of Americans, including seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. Read more about the GOP tax scam here. 

In response, Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:

“Dr. Oz’s demand that people who rely on Medicaid ‘prove they matter’ perfectly sums up the callousness of Trump and the Republicans’ plan to gut health care for 16 million Americans. Because nothing says compassion like demanding proof from already-struggling Americans while Donald Trump and the Republicans fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. The GOP plan is a wrecking ball aimed at anyone who isn’t wealthy or well-connected. Apparently, the only people who matter to Dr. Oz and the GOP are the billionaires whose pockets they are trying to line at the expense of everyone else.”

ashoup
In News

Citizens Deliver Gravestones to Joni Ernst As Republicans Push Forward With Deadly Health Care Cuts 

Today, Joni Ernst Doubled Down Not Once, But Twice On Her “We’re All Going to Die” Statement As Americans Fight Back

View Getty Images Here.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has made it crystal clear: she has no regrets about her viral “Well, we’re all going to die” comment. Instead of walking back her cold, callous dismissal of constituents worried about the GOP’s Medicaid cuts, she doubled down twice today. Her response was a sarcastic mess where she mocked Iowans’ concerns from a graveyard. Today, health care advocates confronted Ernst and brought the graveyard to her as a reminder that real lives are at stake.

16 million Americans will lose critical health care coverage. Seniors, kids, people with cancer, people with disabilities – these are the people that Ernst and Republicans are leaving behind so they can fund another tax break for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the rest of their billionaire buddies. While Ernst cracks jokes, everyday Americans are wondering how they’ll be able to see a doctor or afford lifesaving prescriptions. Joni Ernst can keep pretending like what she said is funny and acceptable, but the rest of us know it is deadly serious. 

Here’s how Republicans will strip 16 million Americans of their health care and endanger lives in the process: 

ashoup
In News, Commentary

BY THE NUMBERS: How 16 Million Will Lose Coverage From the GOP Tax Scam

Trump and Republicans want you to believe that they aren’t taking away your health care, but the numbers don’t lie. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released new analysis confirming the GOP’s deeply unpopular plan will rip health care away from 16 million Americans in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. 

Trump’s big, ugly bill cuts nearly a trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Combined with taking away the ACA tax credits, the GOP plan will destroy our health care system and cause devastation to millions of Americans. This level of coverage loss hasn’t been seen since the 2017 ACA repeal effort, threatening the livelihood of millions, including seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. It’s a scam to give massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and large corporations on the backs of hard-working families. It’s time for Republicans in the Senate to prove where they stand: with billionaires or with everyday Americans.

Here’s exactly how Republicans are sabotaging health care:

  • Rips health care away from 16 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and corporations such as Big Pharma.
  • Cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA to pay for handouts to the wealthiest Americans.
  • Hikes premiums for over 24 million Americans including rural Americans, small business owners, and middle-class families.
  • Guts over $150 billion in critical funding for hospitals, which will shutter facilities, causing more Americans to live in maternity care deserts, travel further to emergency rooms, and face longer wait times. 
  • Generates over $600 billion in funding for tax breaks for the rich by making it harder than ever for working families to get the health care they need.
  • Demands $8.2 billion in new health care payments from families who are already struggling.
  • Contains a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies that will drive up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.
ashoup
In News, Roundup

COVERAGE: Republican Tax Scam Cuts Over A Trillion From American Health Care, 16 Million Will Lose Coverage

Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released updated analysis on Republicans’ tax bill and confirmed 16 million Americans will be kicked off their health care, including kids, people with disabilities, seniors, and working families. This bill slashes over $1 trillion in American health care – the largest health care cut in American history – in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Despite their empty promises to protect health care or lower prices, Donald Trump and Republicans are going to force seniors out of nursing homes, shutter rural hospitals, cause health care costs to skyrocket, and rip life-saving coverage away from millions.

Bloomberg: Health Coverage for 16 Million Said at Risk With GOP Plan.

  • “The number of people in the US without health insurance is poised to increase by 16 million by 2034 under Republican plans for spending cuts, the Congressional Budget Office estimated… The reconciliation bill alone—which the GOP plans to pass using a budget mechanism without needing Democrats’ support—would lead to around 11 million more people without insurance. CBO estimates that proposed Medicaid work requirements for adults aged 19 to 64 without dependents would increase the number of uninsured by 4.8 million by 2034.”

ABC News: “The CBO Projects Overall a Total of 16 Million People Could Potentially Go Uninsured Over the Next Decade.”

  • “The bill narrowly passed the House in May, but now some GOP members are signaling regret on their stamp of approval… The president has lashed out at GOP senators who are threatening to complicate its path forward, including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Paul, who is specifically taking issue with the deficit, told ABC News following Trump’s attacks that he’s been “consistent” about his view from the start. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, has been critical of the bill the House passed to the Senate because it adds to the deficit.”
  • “‘The more you look at the bill, the worse it gets,’ [Senator Chuck] Schumer said. He slammed the impact the changes to Medicaid are projected to have on people’s health insurance as well as on rural hospitals and nursing homes. ‘People will fall through the cracks and get phased out of coverage in the coming years. Death by 1,000 paper cuts. That’s the intention of the Republican bill,’ he said.”

Modern Healthcare: “The Combined Effects of Those Policies and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Would Result in 16 Million More Uninsured People.”

  • “The Republican tax-and-spending-cuts legislation speeding through Congress would take more than $1 trillion out of the healthcare system over a decade, according to an analysis the Congressional Budget Office published Wednesday… Medicaid would be subject to the lion’s share of the cuts and see its federal budget diminish by $864 billion. The work requirement provisions alone would reduce spending by $344 billion… The CBO projects that the Medicaid cuts and other policies would lead to 10.9 million people becoming uninsured, including 7.8 million who would lose Medicaid benefits.”

Stat News: “16 Million People Could Become Uninsured Over a Decade.”

  • “Overall, the bill increases the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over a decade, thanks to its extension of Trump’s tax cuts and the enactment of new ones. Extending lower tax rates alone costs $2.2 trillion over a decade, for example. The bill includes cuts to federal spending on health coverage of more than $1 trillion.”
  • “About 7.8 million people would lose Medicaid coverage, while much of the rest of the losses would stem from the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. Among those losing coverage would be 1.4 million immigrants and others who don’t have, or can’t prove, a legal status that would give them access to insurance… The CBO report doesn’t account for another looming change to health care: enhanced premium tax credits that help people buy ACA coverage are set to expire at the end of the year. The bill does not renew them. The Trump administration has separately estimated that 4.4 million would lose coverage without the tax credits.”

Washington Examiner: “This Would Be the Biggest Rollback in Federal Support for Health Care Ever.”

  • “Democrats and a handful of Republicans have pushed back on the bill’s healthcare provisions, particularly the institution of work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients. Changes to Medicaid and Obamacare in the Energy and Commerce Committee portion of the bill would result in 9.1 million uninsured people, while the Ways and Means provisions would result in 2.3 million newly uninsured people by 2034. The overlap between the programs reduces the uninsured rate by half a million, for a grand total of 10.9 million uninsured people by 2034.”

Splinter: Trump and the GOP’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Fails Its Final CBO Score.

  • “Digging into the human costs reveals how it is even more heinous, as the CBO says it would increase the uninsured population by 10.9 million people over the next ten years. Republicans are lying about how this will throw people off Medicaid by saying that undocumented immigrants are receiving benefits when we know that is not true. This bill is an explicit attempt to take Medicaid away from people in order to partially pay for tax cuts for billionaires that will still blow out the deficit and raise borrowing costs for everyone. In true Republican fashion, many of these empty suits are now lamenting their vote in favor of this calamitous bill they clearly did not read.”
  • “The Yale School of Public Health sent a letter to Democrats warning that this bill could kill 51,000 Americans each year… 15 million people would lose health care coverage because of this GOP bill, and there is enough evidence before you get to Republican Senator Joni Ernst’s gleeful reaction to people dying to suggest that Republicans are happy to accept killing tens of thousands of people in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America. This is their agenda.”

Economic Policy Institute: “[Republicans] Chose to Slash Programs Helping Some of the Most Vulnerable Families.”

  • “This direct transfer of income from vulnerable families to the richest can be summarized in a striking symmetry: If the bill becomes law, the annual cuts to Medicaid would average over $70 billion in coming years—the same amount millionaires and billionaires would gain in tax cuts each year.”
  • “These health care spending cuts would lead directly to millions of people losing health insurance… the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated coverage losses of at least 15 million… a disproportionate share of the House bill’s Medicaid cuts would almost surely fall exactly on these weaker local economies. We estimate that roughly 27 million workers are in these weaker local economies, and that Medicaid cuts could depress local spending enough to force the loss of 850,000 jobs.”

Nasdaq: “Health Insurance Coverage for Millions of Americans Hangs in the Balance.”

  • “Under the deal passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month, policy analysts are estimating between 10.9 million and 15 million people would lose access to their health insurance plans over the course of the budget window, which extends to 2034… Several million more are also expected to lose their health insurance coverage through changes to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, combined with sunsetting provisions that the GOP megabill does not extend.”

The Hill: “House Republicans Rushed to Vote on This Bill Without an Accounting From CBO on the Millions of People Who Will Lose Their Health Care.”

  • “Nearly 11 million people would lose health insurance under the House Republican tax bill, mostly due to cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO’s latest report estimates that 10.9 million people would be uninsured over the next decade if the spending package, which includes much of President Trump’s legislative agenda, were enacted.”
  • “Republicans are likely to downplay the significance of the analysis… Some GOP senators have expressed concerns about some of the Medicaid provisions and say they won’t support the bill without changes.”

CBS News: “Federal Spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act Would Be Reduced by $902 Billion Over a Decade.”

  • “House Republicans are aiming to cut at least $1.5 trillion in spending to offset trillions in tax cuts, while also raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. The CBO projection puts the spending cuts at about $1.2 trillion over the next decade, with the tax cuts totaling just under $3.7 trillion. The national debt currently stands at roughly $36 trillion, according to the Treasury Department…  Though Republicans vowed to protect Medicaid benefits and have framed cuts to the program as trimming ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ the analysis found that the portion of the bill dealing with Medicaid would mean 7.8 million fewer people being enrolled in the safety net program.”

The Wall Street Journal: “Most People, Republicans and Democrats Alike, Want Medicaid Funding to Stay the Same or Increase.”

  • “The 10.9 million figure is an increase from an earlier CBO estimate Republicans released last month. That earlier number pegged the newly uninsured at 7.6 million. The GOP plan thins the rolls by adding more eligibility checks and work requirements for Medicaid recipients. It also makes it more difficult to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans… Cutting Medicaid is unpopular. A March KFF poll found that most people, Republicans and Democrats alike, want Medicaid funding to stay the same or increase”
ashoup
In News

STATEMENT: New CBO Analysis Confirms What We Knew – The GOP Tax Scam Is A Health Care Bloodbath and Millions Will Suffer

Washington D.C. – The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just released new analysis confirming that Trump and Republicans’ big, ugly bill will, combined with taking away the ACA tax credits, rip health care away from 16 million Americans, including kids, people with disabilities, seniors, and working families. Between the largest Medicaid cuts in history and decimating the Affordable Care Act, health care costs will skyrocket, and millions will lose life-saving care, all so Trump and the Republicans can give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest people and big corporations. 

“The CBO has confirmed what we knew all along – this bill is horrendous for the American people and Donald Trump and Republicans are lying about it,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Now there is no doubt left about the destruction and devastation Republicans are causing to our health care system by making the largest health care cuts in history. Not only will hardworking families lose their coverage, but rural hospitals will shut down, seniors will be forced to leave their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction will lose access to lifesaving treatment. But Republicans are more concerned with lining the pockets of billionaires than protecting American health care. Now it’s on Senate Republicans to stand up for their constituents, not billionaires, and oppose this bill.”

BY THE NUMBERS

  • Rips health care away from 16 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and corporations such as Big Pharma.
  • Guts over $150 billion in critical funding for hospitals, which will shutter facilities, causing more Americans to live in maternity care deserts, travel further to emergency rooms, and face longer wait times. 
  • Generates over $600 billion in funding for tax breaks for the rich by making it harder than ever for working families to get the health care they need.
  • Demands $8.2 billion in new health care payments from families who are already struggling.
  • Contains a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies that will drive up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.
ashoup
In News

NEW POLL: Republicans’ Billionaire Tax Scam Toxically Unpopular with American People 

Key defensive arguments by Congressional Republicans, including work requirements, are also unpopular.

Washington, D.C. – As Republicans push forward with their Billionaire Tax Scam in the Senate, Families Over Billionaires, in partnership with Center for American Progress Action Fund and Protect Our Care, released a new poll conducted by Hart Research showing overwhelming public opposition to Republicans’ harmful legislation to slash Medicaid and food assistance to pay for billionaire tax breaks. 

This poll confirms what we already knew about Republicans’ budget bill – at a time when Americans are concerned about the cost of living, this legislation is wildly unpopular, and is only getting more unpopular the more people hear about it. 

The poll was conducted nationally from May 27-28. Full poll memo from Hart Research can be found here.

See below for key findings:

The Republican budget bill is unpopular, with opposition growing even more intense as voters learn more about it.

  • Before hearing any messaging, only 38% of voters support Republicans’ budget bill.
  • After voters hear a neutral, factual description of the main elements of the bill, opposition jumps by 15 points, from 46% to 61% – including 65% opposition from swing voters:

The Republican budget bill, which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives with the backing of Donald Trump, would do the following:
(1) Cut Medicaid and food stamps
(2) Eliminate tax incentives for clean energy projects
(3) Increase border security
(4) Permanently extend all tax cuts in the 2017 Trump tax law, including those for the wealthy
(5) Temporarily eliminate taxes on tips and overtime

The bill is even underwater with many Trump voters.

  • Among voters who supported Donald Trump in 2024, but with reservations, only 46% support the bill.

The major elements of the Republican budget bill – cuts to Medicaid, cuts to SNAP, and tax breaks for the wealthy – are extremely unpopular.

  • Voters strongly oppose the main parts of the Republican budget bill: cuts to Medicaid (70%), cuts to SNAP (69%), and tax breaks for the wealthy (68%).

Republicans’ spin falls flat with the public.

  • Only 38% of voters say they have a favorable view of the bill “establishing work requirements for Medicaid,” while 50% say that it is unfavorable.
  • 58% of voters reject Republicans’ framing that their bill will deliver “tax cuts for everyone.”

The American people are especially concerned that the bill will cause the cost of groceries, health care, interest rates and utility bills to skyrocket.

  • 70% of voters expressed major concern over the bill raising families’ costs for groceries and health care through cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and ACA tax credits. 
  • 70% of voters expressed major concern over the bill raising costs on 80 million poor and middle class households.
ashoup
In News

HEADLINES: GOP Bill Guts The Affordable Care Act 

Republicans Are Targeting the ACA in Their Quest to Hand Out Tax Breaks to Billionaires and Big Corporations 

The Republican spending bill not only makes the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, it dismantles the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as we know it. By raising costs for millions, making it harder to enroll, and chipping away at the ACA’s core provisions, Republicans are raising premiums and out-of-pocket costs for tens of millions of people who buy coverage on their own. In total, the GOP tax scam will throw 14 million people off their coverage, including seniors, children, middle- and low-income families, people with disabilities, people fighting cancer, and so many more. Headlines confirm that this coverage loss is nearing levels not seen since the 2017 ACA repeal effort, but Republicans are trying to go unnoticed in their relentless war on health care. 

MSNBC: It’s Not Just Medicaid: Republicans’ Megabill Would Sabotage the Affordable Care Act

  • “Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, describing the real-world effects of the GOP megabill, added, “They’re not calling this ACA repeal and replace, but the coverage losses would be among many of the same people who would have lost their insurance under ACA repeal…” Perhaps most importantly, the Republican plan would end the expanded ACA tax credit subsidies that made coverage far more affordable for consumers throughout the Biden era — a move that would, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, leave roughly 5 million Americans uninsured.”

The Washington Post: Republicans Are Trying to Repeal Obamacare Again. Sort Of.

  • “Congressional Republicans are pursuing changes to the Affordable Care Act that would mean 10.7 million fewer Americans using its insurance marketplaces and Medicaid, a huge reduction that some view as a way to accomplish part of the health-care coverage cancellation that failed in 2017.”

Axios: How the GOP Megabill May Roll Back the Affordable Care Act

  • “The bill that passed the House before Memorial Day includes an overhaul of ACA marketplaces that would result in coverage losses for millions of Americans and savings to help cover the cost of extending President Trump’s tax cuts. It comes after a growth spurt that saw ACA marketplace enrollment reach new highs, with more than 24 million people enrolling for 2025, according to KFF. The House’s changes would likely reverse that trend, unless the Senate goes in a different direction when it picks up the bill next week.”

STAT: ACA Reforms in the GOP’s Tax Bill Were Little-Noticed. That Might Change

  • “As Republicans backed off Medicaid cuts, though, they turned to ACA marketplace policies to look for spending cuts. The nonpartisan and policy research firm KFF says the number of people with marketplace plans could shrink by about 8 million — about what’s expected in Medicaid coverage losses… The expiration of enhanced premium subsidies could further reduce enrollment via ACA marketplace plans by 4.4 million, according to Trump administration estimates.”

Rolling Stone: Trump’s Tax Bill Would Decimate the Affordable Care Act

  • “Republicans plan to allow for the expiration of subsidies that help people afford individual health insurance plans, a move that would lead to a steep rise in prices for Americans who purchase coverage through the ACA marketplace. The version of the reconciliation bill passed Thursday by the House of Representatives would also prohibit passive reenrollment for ACA plan users who receive financial assistance, increase penalties for incorrect reporting of income, place further restrictions on enrollment periods, and create new bureaucratic hurdles to obtaining premium tax credits in ways that experts say will cause many to forgo or lose coverage.”

CNBC: House Republican Tax Bill Skipped ACA credits — Marketplace Health Insurance Will Get Pricier Without Them

  • “But the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is missing something health care advocates hoped to see: an extension of the insurance premium tax credits under the enhanced Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year. The credits’ absence is notable as the bill includes other proposed changes to the ACA marketplace, experts say… “Pretty much everyone, almost everybody who’s buying their own health insurance, now would see their costs go up,” Cox said.”

STAT: Projected Number of Uninsured From GOP’s Bill is Nearing Levels Not Seen Since ACA Repeal Effort

  • “The funding cuts and the failure to extend ACA-related credits, taken together, would mean that at least 13.7 million stand to lose coverage in the coming decade under Republicans’ health care agenda, according to KFF, which based its calculation on preliminary projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Those coverage loss projections are expected to be higher once the official score of the legislation is ready, the CBO said, and ACA reforms in the separate Ways and Means Committee’s reconciliation bill are also expected to lead to higher numbers of uninsured. If nearly 14 million people lost coverage over the coming decade, that could push the number of uninsured in the U.S. close to pre-ACA levels, according to Larry Levitt, KFF executive vice president for health policy.”
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In News

“Wealth Over Workers”: Senator Ron Wyden, Former Medicaid Director Join Protect Our Care to Urge The Senate to Reject the GOP Tax Scam and Protect Health Care for the American People

Watch the Full Event Here.

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and former Medicaid Director Daniel Tsai joined Protect Our Care for a press conference calling on Republicans in the Senate to put people over politics and reject the House spending bill. The bill includes the largest Medicaid cuts in history, guts key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and eliminates premium tax credits. 

As the largest health care provider in the country, Medicaid provides health care to more than 70 million Americans. According to analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, between the drastic cuts to Medicaid and the harmful ACA marketplace cuts in this bill, more than 13 million Americans will lose health care coverage and millions more will see their health care costs soar. Not only will hardworking families lose access to care, rural hospitals will shut down, seniors will be forced to leave their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction will lose lifesaving care.

“This bill can be called caviar over kids and wealth over workers,” said Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden. “The reality is the House bill has hurt written all over it. Rural health care providers say this legislation will hit them like a wrecking ball. Seniors are going to face a greater risk of abuse and neglect in nursing homes, and Americans with disabilities will lose a lifeline of care at home. This is bureaucratic water torture that’s going to cause untold suffering as millions lose their health insurance and millions more struggle to navigate through a maze of red tape. Senate Republicans need to know that cutting health care is a death sentence for their constituents.” 

“As someone that has run Medicaid program at the federal level, at the state level, and now at the local level, I want to be clear: saying this bill does not cut Medicaid or won’t hurt our most vulnerable is not just misleading, it’s factually wrong,” said former Medicaid Director Daniel Tsai. “Everything in this bill will lead to millions of people losing their health care coverage, and will fundamentally destabilize and threaten hospitals, clinics, and providers. This is a master class in finding ways to disguise cuts to programs with very technical provisions.” 

“Late last week, Senator Joni Ernst said the quiet part out loud and admitted that Republicans would rather line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy than protect the health care that millions of families depend on,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “By putting our health care on the chopping block, Republicans are turning their backs on the American people. Their agenda is clear: raise costs on hardworking families and rip coverage away from millions. Now Senate Republicans must make the choice – side with Joni Ernst and billionaires or stand up for the health care of millions of everyday Americans. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

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