Tonight, in his address to Congress, President Trump will lie to the American people. No matter what he claims, the truth is that he and his Republican allies in Congress are waging a war on health care. Between passing a budget resolution that would enact the largest cuts to Medicaid in history to the reckless mass firings at the health agencies charged with developing lifesaving cures and treatments that keep us safe, Trump has put the health and well-being of every American in serious jeopardy.
Right now, President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are working to kick millions of children, seniors, and people with disabilities off their Medicaid coverage and spike the cost of health care for the middle class, all to line the pockets of billionaires and large corporations with tax breaks.
Here are four big ways he and his Republican allies in Congress are waging war on our nation’s health care:
1. Ripping Away Coverage From Millions of Americans By Slashing Medicaid. Even as Republicans have lied through their teeth about not cutting Medicare or Medicaid, they passed a budget resolution last week calling for massive cuts that would be impossible without slashing one or both health programs in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and corporations. Slashing Medicaid could:
- Put the care of over 8 million seniors at risk, including many of the 5.6 million who count on Medicaid for long-term care and 6 in 10 nursing home residents.
- Take away coverage for people with disabilities and mental illness, jeopardizing care for over 15 million adults with disabilities and kids with physical, mental, and developmental disabilities.
- Take away health care from children. Almost half of all children in America have Medicaid, helping over 30 million children get the health care they need.
- Threaten health care for veterans. Nearly a million non-elderly veterans, many of whom suffer with chronic conditions, use Medicaid for all or part of their health care.
- Jeopardize health care for new mothers. Medicaid covers 4 in 10 births and is the largest share of maternity coverage.
- Force rural hospitals and clinics to close. Half of all children and 20% of adults in rural areas get their healthcare through Medicaid.
2. Raising The Cost of Health Coverage For Middle Class Families. Republicans want to raise health care costs for over 24 million Americans. Republicans are refusing to extend tax credits that help working families afford health care, which will raise costs and rip away health care from millions of Americans at a time they cannot afford it. 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 altogether. Without these credits, families will pay up to 90 percent more for their health care, while billionaires and CEOs will get another huge tax break.
3. Hiking Prescription Drug Costs For Seniors. Republicans have introduced legislation to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug provisions that are saving Americans thousands of dollars on health care. This includes ending the $35 monthly cap on insulin, stopping Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices, ending the $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on drug costs, and allowing drug companies to once again raise drug prices through the roof without penalty. They want to raise costs on the 53 million seniors with Part D prescription drug coverage while giving more tax breaks to drug companies and their CEOs.
4. Destroying Medical Research, Endangering Public Health, and Bringing Back Vaccine Preventable Diseases. Under the second Trump administration, public health is under serious threat. Over the past month, his federal grant stoppages and cuts have upended the nation’s medical research infrastructure and thrown global efforts to stop the spread of deadly disease into chaos. Republicans’ confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services has already begun to cost lives and undermine our nation’s most critical health institutions. His opposition to vaccines has already led to a deadly resurgence of measles across the Southwest, the cancellation of a scientific panel that meets to approve flu vaccines, and the halting of vaccine research. As vaccination rates across the country drop, it is only a matter of time before other once-eliminated childhood diseases, such as polio, make a comeback. Our country is now more at the mercy of infectious disease than ever in recent history.
If Republicans Enact Their Proposals:
- GONE: Coverage for up to 36 million people because of the GOP’s onerous work reporting requirements.
- GONE: Federal funding for Medicaid expansion, putting coverage for 21 million Americans at risk.
- GONE: Protections and health care for over 30 million children currently covered through Medicaid.
- GONE: Billions in federal state funding for Medicaid, as Republicans plan to cut federal funding for Medicaid and eliminate provider taxes to cut taxes for the rich.
- GONE: Critical funding for rural hospitals through Medicaid.
If Republicans Repeal The Affordable Care Act:
- GONE: Protections for more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, including 54 million people with a pre-existing condition that would make them completely uninsurable.
- GONE: Medicaid expansion, which covers over 21 million people.
- GONE: Quality, affordable coverage for over 24 million people who buy insurance on their own.
- GONE: Premium tax credits that make premiums affordable for 93 percent of people who purchase health care on the marketplace.
- GONE: 2.3 million adult children will no longer be able to stay on their parents’ insurance.
- GONE: Ban on insurance companies having annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
- GONE: Requirements that insurance companies cover prescription drugs and maternity care.
If Republicans Roll Back The Inflation Reduction Act:
- GONE: $35 cap on monthly insulin costs for people with Medicare.
- GONE: Medicare’s power to negotiate lower prices for the most popular and expensive prescription drugs. Over 9 million people take the first ten drugs and over 5 million people take the second 15 drugs selected for negotiation, which together account for over a third of Medicare Part D yearly spending.
- GONE: Prescription drug savings for people on Medicare, including the $2,000 annual out-of-pocket prescription drug cap and protections from drug company price hikes through inflation rebates. Nearly 19 million American seniors are expected to save an average of $400 per year, including 11 million who will save an average of $600 per year from the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap alone.
- GONE: Free vaccines for 53 million people on Medicare, including for shingles and pneumonia.
- GONE: Prescription drug savings for 4 million low-income seniors through the Medicare Part D Extra Help program.