With President Trump back in office, the Republican threat to health care is real. The last Trump administration was disastrous for Americans’ health care with repeated attempts to raise costs and kick millions off of their coverage. Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and its protections for pre-existing conditions, hike prescription drug and premium costs, and cut Medicare and Medicaid – and they intended to do it all again.
But health care is a kitchen table issue. No matter where they live or work, or who they voted for, the American people want health care to be more affordable and accessible. Republicans have been clear about their intentions: ban Medicare from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices, cut Medicaid for kids and families to provide tax cuts for the ultra-rich, and rip away critical protections for pre-existing conditions. These GOP policies will result in higher costs and worse care – the exact opposite of what the American people want. Across the board, the Republican health care agenda of putting profits over people is deeply unpopular.
Protect Our Care will continue to monitor all of the ways Donald Trump targets health care and update the “Health Care Sabotage Tracker” over the next four years.
February 2025
- Halted all studies and activities within the NIH relating in any capacity to LGBTQ+ health, including active research programs.
- Updated funding conditions for the Department of Transportation, requiring that groups seeking grants have anti-public health and anti-vaccine policies in place before they can receive any funding.
- The Office for Minority Health was completely shuttered during Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s shock doctrine attack on federal agencies and its employees.
January 2025
- Revoked a Biden administration order that prioritized protecting and strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in order to make high-quality health care accessible and affordable for every American. Per Stat: “Trump rescinded Biden’s executive order that led to longer enrollment periods for Affordable Care Act plans in most states and extra funding for the third parties that help people enroll in ACA insurance. Those measures helped the Biden administration nearly double ACA enrollment to about 24 million people, though those gains were mostly due to the extra government subsidies that lowered the cost of ACA premiums.”
- In a two-page memo, Donald Trump ordered a freeze on all federal financial assistance except Medicare and Social Security. This means billions of dollars in grants, any and all Medicaid services, ACA premium subsidies, and more may be unable to be provided to Americans. According to reports, all fifty states were briefly unable to access their Medicaid portals. The chaos and confusion surrounding this event leaves the future of Medicaid payments uncertain.
- Signed an executive order ending all funding for any kind of gender-affirming care for people 19 and under by threatening the revocation of all Medicaid and Medicare funding; as well the order further eroded patient privacy protections for all Americans.
- Another OMB memo confirmed a pause on all funding for Rural Health and Safety Education Competitive Grants Program and Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants clawing back millions of dollars in funding for rural health programs.
- Ordered a communications and hiring freeze for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as new restrictions, halting grant funding for lifesaving medical research.
- Revoked a Biden administration order instructing agencies to identify ways to expand affordable health coverage even further and help Americans enroll in quality health coverage.
- Revoked a Biden administration executive order which aimed to lower prescription drug costs for people on Medicaid or Medicare by analyzing new payment models.
- Revoked a Biden administration order that instructed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create a plan to support new studies for treatments to future threats to public health.
- Ordered the CDC to withdraw all of its research from any publication and has forbidden any terms relating to pregnancy or gender to be included in any future research.
- Removed multiple CDC websites and datasets involving HIV, youth health behaviors, and LGBTQ+ health.
- Signed an executive order to withdraw from the World Health Organization on his first day in office.