Washington, D.C. – Today, Protect Our Care is releasing a new report holding Republicans accountable for putting profits over people during their ongoing war on the American health care system. Republicans passed a budget that cuts nearly a trillion from Medicaid, putting more than 72 million Americans who count on Medicaid at risk of losing health care coverage. At the same time, they are trying to raise costs on millions of hard-working families by ending the cost-saving tax credits. As a result, insurance premiums would increase by an average of 90 percent and 5 million people would lose their health coverage. Donald Trump and Republicans are also endangering millions of lives by making indiscriminate cuts to our public health infrastructure, sabotaging the integral health care systems, such as the Affordable Care Act, and installing anti-vaccine zealot RFK Jr. as Secretary of HHS. Recent polling from Hart Research and Protect Our Care found there is broad opposition across party lines to major elements of the Republican health care agenda.
“Republicans are waging a full-scale war on American health care at the expense of hard-working families across the nation,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Their agenda is crystal clear: give tax breaks to billionaires by ripping away health care, leaving the American people, including their own constituents and voters, behind. Between slashing Medicaid and taking away health care tax credits, they continue to put profits over people and line the pockets of their friends like Elon Musk and big corporations. The American people want and deserve better.”
Report Key Points:
Here’s a closer look at what’s in store if Republicans get their way:
- Slashing almost a trillion dollars from Medicaid, forcing people to choose between health care and putting food on the table. In every state, hundreds of thousands of seniors, children, and working families could lose their health insurance thanks to Republican plans to cut almost a trillion dollars from Medicaid.
- Imposing burdensome work requirements for people on Medicaid: Republicans’ latest proposal of burdensome work requirements has one goal: make it harder for people to qualify for Medicaid, slash benefits, and deny up to 36 million people access to health care so they can fund more tax breaks for billionaires and corporations. Work requirements only increase the red tape that hard-working families must go through to obtain affordable health care.
- Hiking premium costs: Millions of families who use private health insurance saved an average of $2,400 per year on their premiums thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act’s advanced premium tax credits, but Republicans want to end these savings and raise costs for over 24 million Americans.
- Ripping away protections for people with pre-existing conditions: The GOP plans to repeal and sabotage the ACA, meaning the 135 million people with pre-existing conditions like asthma, cancer, and diabetes would lose critical protections that prevent insurance companies from charging them higher premiums or denying their coverage.
- Raising prescription drug prices: Republicans want to once again give drug companies full control of padding their profits by banning Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices. This would raise government spending and increase costs for seniors and their families.
- Stopping medical research, and stopping medical debt relief: Over the first three months of his administration, Donald Trump and his Republican allies have increased the prices of prescription drugs, including cancer and heart medications as well as vital antibiotics, delayed implementation of a Biden administration rule that barred medical debt from showing on credit reports, cut NIH grants, halted all studies and activities within the NIH relating in any capacity to LGBTQ+ health, including active research programs, and violated court orders to halt funding freezes to organizations like the NIH.
- Keeping insulin costs high: Republicans rejected legislation to cap insulin costs for millions of people with diabetes nationwide. Now they want to raise costs for seniors by repealing the cap for people who rely on Medicare. As many as one in four of the 7.5 million Americans dependent on insulin are skipping or skimping on doses, a life-threatening practice no one in this country should have to bear.