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Measles, Salmonella, Explosive Diarrhea: Public Health Crises Erupt Under RFK Jr.'s Leadership
"When the Trump administration declares a crisis ‘under control’, it’s time to brace for the worst yet to come," said one critic.
Jul 24, 2026
The United States under Trump-appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is currently experiencing major public health crises, including record-high measles cases, an outbreak of a parasite that causes explosive diarrhea, and potential salmonella contamination that led to a recall of nearly two million egg cartons.
Numbers released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday revealed that there have been 2,318 recorded cases of measles this year, the highest number of cases recorded since the virus was declared eliminated in the country more than two decades ago.
Some public health experts who spoke with The New York Times said that lower uptake of the measles vaccine was to blame for the outbreak.
Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, told the Times that "this is just going to keep happening" in the US unless vaccination rates improve.
"It’s going to mean living in a perpetual state of vulnerability and risk until we get vaccination levels up," Nuzzo emphasized.
Dr. Jonathan Temte, a former chairman of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, placed blame for the outbreaks on the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the leadership of Kennedy, who prior to becoming America's top public health official was best known as an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.
“We have seen virtually no national messaging," said Temte. "We’ve seen no ad campaigns... I think that really tells us something about their priorities."
Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care, also slammed Kennedy's leadership at NHS, accusing him and President Donald Trump of being on "a suicide mission to scare America families away from vaccines without cause or evidence."
"What they’ve accomplished is a huge dip in vaccination rates and the worst measles crisis in 35 years," Woodhouse added. "While the nation’s measles elimination status is doomed, the Trump CDC apparently has not spent a dime on public service ads promoting the one thing that will get us out of the woods: the measles vaccine."
Measles isn't the only disease spreading throughout the country, as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Friday that "four new states... are now considered part" of the outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a foodborne illness that causes explosive diarrhea.
The FDA has said that iceberg lettuce sourced from Taylor Farms de Mexico is likely the source of the outbreak, which so far has led to nearly 2,000 infections and almost 100 hospitalizations.
News about the continued spread of the outbreak came two days after the FDA revealed it was investigating another potential source of cyclospora, the parasitic bacteria that causes cyclosporiasis.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who earlier this week demanded answers from Kennedy about his decision to terminate the CDC's previously required surveillance of cyclospora, sent the HHS secretary a letter on Friday ripping his leadership of the department.
"Your silence amidst an ongoing outbreak of diarrheal disease," Ossoff wrote, "is indicative of the reckless arrogance with which you demolished America's public health defense."
Woodhouse, in a statement released Thursday, noted that Kennedy had declared the outbreak "under control" this week even though federal data shows it growing.
"If history is any judge, when the Trump administration declares a crisis ‘under control’, it’s time to brace for the worst yet to come," said Woodhouse.
The FDA also announced on Wednesday that Midwest Poultry Services was voluntarily recalling nearly 1.6 million cartons of eggs over potential contamination by the bacteria salmonella.
As the FDA noted, salmonella infections often result in a number of unpleasant conditions, including "fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain."
Economist Dean Baker summed up the current situation in the US in a Friday social media post: "War, diarrhea, measles, and now salmonella, that's pretty damn MAGA!"
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More Than 5 Million People Have Lost Health Coverage Under Trump-GOP Law
According to a new report, the crisis is "only going to get worse."
Jun 23, 2026
Not even a year after President Donald Trump signed the largest healthcare cuts in US history into law, around five million Americans have lost insurance coverage, according to a report out Monday from Protect Our Care, which predicted that the crisis was "only going to get worse."
The massive budget and tax legislation passed by Republicans last July, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, slashed nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) over the next decade while introducing tax breaks that are expected to hand an additional $1 trillion to the richest 1% of Americans.
“Five million and counting. That’s the human toll of the spiraling Republican healthcare affordability crisis,” said Protect Our Care president Brad Woodhouse. “Just one year after Trump and congressional Republicans made the largest cuts to healthcare in history to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations on Wall Street, millions have lost the care they depended on to stay alive and healthy."
Citing the most recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and state agencies, the report found that the number of Americans enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP had fallen to just 76.9 million, down from 80.8 million a year before—a decline of more than 3.8 million people.
Another 1.2 million are also estimated to have lost coverage due to the massive spike in premiums after Republicans voted not to renew tax credits for consumers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that lowered costs for Americans who purchased coverage through ACA marketplaces.
During open enrollment in 2025, 24.3 million Americans selected insurance plans through the ACA. This year, as the average premium was projected to more than double on average, the number of Americans enrolled through the ACA fell to just 23.1 million—a drop of nearly 1.2 million.
The millions of other families still enrolled in insurance through the ACA exchanges saw an average increase of $780, and according to KFF, it's only been that low because many families have opted to switch to cheaper, less comprehensive plans.
The loss of insurance coverage "is only a small piece of the puzzle," Woodhouse said.
"Millions more are making impossible choices every day to keep their coverage, including skipping rent or cutting back on groceries so they can see a doctor," he said. "Their pain and suffering are incalculable."
The report said the coverage losses over the first year are "just the beginning" and that "millions more will lose coverage once deeper cuts go into effect."
The full slate of changes to Medicaid from the GOP bill has not yet been enacted. Next year, many adult recipients will be required to submit proof that they are doing at least 80 hours of work or other qualifying activity each month in order to maintain benefits, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated could increase the uninsured population by 5.3 million by 2034.
Another paperwork hurdle, the requirement that certain Medicaid expansion enrollees prove their eligibility every six months, is expected to result in another 700,000 people becoming uninsured by 2034.
In total, CBO analyses estimate that over the next decade, roughly 15 million Americans would lose their insurance coverage as a result of the legislation.
"These are our neighbors, our friends, our loved ones. These are small business owners and farmers. These are seniors. Veterans. Moms," Woodhouse said. "These are millions of working people now scrambling to find insulin pumps, taking thousands out of retirement just to see a doctor for that cough that’s not getting better, or, worse, not getting care at all."
With healthcare costs now a top concern among voters—66% of whom said they were worried about affording it, according to a KFF poll in January—cuts to healthcare spending appear to be a glaring liability for Republicans entering the midterm elections.
Another KFF poll from April found that 37% of voters said they trusted Democrats to address healthcare costs, while just 26% said they trusted Republicans. Meanwhile, 67% of voters said they disapproved of the Trump administration's handling of healthcare costs.
"Every single day, the affordability crisis mounts, and more Americans will find themselves joining the five million struggling to keep up with skyrocketing healthcare costs," Woodhouse said. "The American people won’t forget this betrayal in November.”
Democrats have seized on Monday's report as part of their election pitch, including Rep. Greg Landsman, who faces a competitive reelection fight in Ohio's 1st Congressional District.
He wrote on social media Tuesday that Republicans "cut healthcare by nearly a trillion to pay for tax cuts for the super wealthy... five million people no longer have healthcare."
"The healthcare crisis in America is dominating the lives of millions, and will soon dominate all of our lives," he said. "We need a new Congress to restore people’s healthcare and to end this crisis. There is no other way."
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Report Details How Trump Did Big Tobacco’s Bidding on Flavored Vapes Despite Risk to Kids
"Trump could not care less about the health consequences and costs of giving teenagers access to addictive flavored poison if it means his tobacco industry donors can make record profits," said one public health advocate.
May 13, 2026
The resignation of a pair of top health officials in the Trump administration this week has brought to light efforts by the president to help Big Tobacco executives and lobbyists sell addictive flavored e-cigarettes that could be marketed to children.
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidance allowing cigarette makers to begin marketing and selling fruit- and candy-flavored vape products on store shelves, which were banned under previous administrations due to evidence that they were driving youth vaping.
The policy was enacted despite the strong opposition of then-FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who resigned on Tuesday, reportedly because he could not in good conscience support it.
Makary's resignation was followed by the departure of Rich Danker, the chief spokesperson for Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who similarly warned that the policy "would appeal to children and expose them to nicotine addiction, lung damage, and higher risk of cancer" in a letter addressed to Trump on Wednesday.
Danker did not blame Trump for the policy in his letter; instead, he attributed it to "senior HHS officials in the immediate office of the secretary."
This is despite the fact that The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump had personally berated Makary over his hesitation to enact the policy and had signed off on a plan to fire him.
A New York Times report on Wednesday confirms the extent of Trump's direct involvement in strong-arming the FDA into enacting the policy. It found that he pressured higher-ups in HHS to move the policy forward amid a tongue-lashing from tobacco industry lobbyists and executives angry that they could not get in on the highly profitable sale of fruit- and candy-flavored vapes. Despite being illegal and mostly imported to the US from China, these vapes make up about 60% of the total e-cigarette market.
Trump, who ran in 2024 on a pledge to "save vaping" as part of an effort to appeal to young voters, has raked in huge sums of money from the tobacco industry. According to data from OpenSecrets, his inaugural committee took over $3 million from vaping special interests, including $1.25 million from the Vapor Technology Association, and $1 million apiece from Altria and Breeze Smoke.
Altria, which owns Marlboro maker Philip Morris, and Reynolds American, which owns Lucky Strike and Camel, have also offered donations to Trump's $400 million White House ballroom project. Reynolds, the biggest producer of menthol cigarettes, also gave $10 million to the super PAC backing Trump in 2024.
According to The New York Times, executives for Altria and Reynolds were turning the screws on Trump over lunch at his golf club in Jupiter, Florida, in early May because they were "unhappy with the way the Food and Drug Administration was regulating their industry."
Trump interrupted the conversation to call up RFK Jr. and Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and complained to them about the FDA's regulation of e-cigarettes.
Within a week, the new policy had been enacted, and its leading opponent, Makary, was gone. He has since been replaced by Kyle Diamantas, whom the healthcare advocacy group Protect Our Care described as "a 30-something lawyer whose qualifications for such a critical public health role seem to begin and end at being Donald Trump Jr.’s 'hunting buddy.'”
"Donald Trump’s fury at FDA head Makary was motivated by gross political opportunism and fat checks from the big vape industry," said Jeremy Funk, the deputy director of Protect Our Care's Public Health Watch team. "Trump could not care less about the health consequences and costs of giving teenagers access to addictive flavored poison if it means his tobacco industry donors can make record profits."
While youth vaping is at a 10-year low, about 1.6 million middle and high school students were estimated to use vape products in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Nearly 90% of them said they used fruit and candy-flavored vapes.
Dr. Jerome Adams, a physician and professor at Purdue University, said in a post on social media that the rise of vaping has fueled a rebound in nicotine usage among college-aged adults.
"Youth combustible cigarette smoking was already at an all-time low and consistently dropping before vaping came on the scene. There is literally no reason to believe that the majority of young people who are now vaping would have otherwise been smoking combustible cigarettes," he said. "Amongst college-age and young adults, nicotine use is going back up to incredibly high rates—largely due to vaping."
The new policy enacted by the FDA has so far only authorized the sale of flavored products by one company, the Los Angeles-based Glas Inc., which will be allowed to sell vapes in flavors like mango and blueberry under names like "Gold" and "Sapphire."
The FDA sought to assuage fears of underage use by pointing to the Glas' digital age-verification system, which requires the product to be connected to the Bluetooth of a phone owned by a person over the age of 21. However, it is expected that, especially amid industry pressure, more companies will have their products approved soon.
Kayla Hancock, director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project, said that while Makary had a "terrible record" as FDA commissioner, having taken actions that slowed vaccine development and launched dubious, politically charged "reviews" of abortion pills long found to be safe, "apparently, it wasn’t terrible enough for Donald Trump."
"Hesitating to approve flavored vapes and not put American teens on a fast-track to lifelong addiction to harmful nicotine products is the bare minimum anyone could hope for from the Trump FDA," she said. "But that was a bridge too far for Donald Trump, who sees young people as disposable political pawns that he can appeal to with poison while lining the pockets of his big vape donors."
She said the ouster of Makary and his replacement with Diamantas "all but guarantees an FDA further consumed by chaos and driven by the wish lists of special interests that want profits put before public health."
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Critics Say Trump 'Joke Healthcare Plan' Nothing But a 'Con' of the American People
“In the longer term, we must finally pass Medicare for All, an actually great healthcare plan," said one campaigner.
Jan 15, 2026
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a "Great Healthcare Plan" that critics panned for being "short on details," arguing that—contrary to White House claims—the scheme will lead to higher consumer costs and less care.
Trump called on Congress to pass his proposal, which he said will "lower drug prices, lower insurance premiums, hold big insurance companies accountable, and maximize price transparency."
However, the advocacy group Protect Our Care called the proposal a "joke healthcare plan" and a "sad attempt to continue gaslighting the American people."
"Since taking office, President Trump and his cronies in Congress have taken a hammer to American healthcare to enrich billionaires and big corporations," the group said. "First, they slashed $1 trillion dollars from Medicaid, and then they doubled, tripled, and quadrupled health premiums for nearly 22 million Americans already struggling to get by in Trump’s unaffordable America."
"Now that it is clear that busting working families’ budgets is bad policy and bad politics, Trump is scrambling for a lifeline," Protect Our Care added. "The solution to ending the Trump-GOP premium disaster isn’t rocket science. It is the three-year, clean extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that the House passed. This commonsense solution that Trump callously threatened to veto is now sitting on Senate Republican Leader John Thune’s (SD) desk."
Trump’s new health care plan doesn’t help people facing skyrocketing ACA premiums.No fix for affordability. No solution for families struggling to stay covered.Just another empty framework while costs climb.
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— Protect Our Care (@protectourcare.org) January 15, 2026 at 12:57 PM
The Senate—which last month voted down a similar three-year-extension to what House lawmakers passed—has yet to schedule a vote on the extension. An attempt to advance the bill through a unanimous consent agreement was blocked by Republicans on Wednesday.
Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said in a statement Thursday that “Trump’s half-baked healthcare ‘plan’ is a con that does nothing to help Americans facing soaring costs and would raise healthcare expenses while cutting coverage."
"That’s no surprise from a president who is taking healthcare away from 15 million Americans to pay for tax breaks for billionaires," he added. "If the White House is serious about lowering healthcare costs right now, they should support legislation to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that already passed the House with bipartisan support. The American people deserve real solutions, not gimmicks.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that a three-year extension of the enhanced ACA premium tax credits would increase the number of Americans with health insurance by millions, including approximately 3 million in 2027 and 4 million in 2028.
Eagan Kemp, healthcare policy advocate at the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen, said in a statement Thursday that “Trump’s Great Healthcare Plan is impressive only in the fact that it isn’t great, wouldn’t substantively improve healthcare, and isn’t even detailed enough to be considered a plan."
“Trump and his cronies have had more than a decade to come up with something beyond ‘concepts of a plan’ but have failed time and time again," Kemp continued. "The American people are suffering under a broken healthcare system that has been made worse by Trump and his MAGA allies."
“By passing tax cuts for billionaires and paying for them through healthcare cuts for tens of millions of people, Trump and Republicans showed their disdain for everyday Americans. In the short run, the Senate must follow the lead of the House and pass a clean three-year extension of the ACA subsidies," he said.
“In the longer term," Kemp added, "we must finally pass Medicare for All, an actually great healthcare plan, to finally guarantee everyone in the US can get the care they need throughout their lives without financial barriers."
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Republicans in Congress Ripped for 'Entirely Preventable' 2026 Healthcare Crisis
"Working families simply can't afford to pay more money for worse care. We need to extend ACA tax credits to lower costs."
Dec 31, 2025
With millions of Americans facing health insurance premium hikes and Affordable Care Act tax credits expiring at midnight, critics, including congressional Democrats, called out Republicans on Capitol Hill for kicking off 2026 with a nationwide healthcare crisis.
"When the clock strikes midnight, the fallout of the GOP's premium hikes will ripple throughout the nation," Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach said in a Wednesday statement. "This new year brings a healthcare catastrophe unlike anything this nation has ever seen. Hardworking Americans will be sent into crippling medical debt, emptying out their savings just to see a doctor. Others will be forced to live without the life-saving coverage they need. Untold tens of thousands will die from preventable causes."
"And hundreds of hospitals, nursing homes, and maternity wards will shutter or be at risk of disappearing out of thin air," Dach warned. "When the American people go to the ballot box in November, they won't forget who's responsible for all of this chaos and carnage. They won't forget who's responsible for their skimpier coverage, sky-high premiums, and vanishing hospitals."
Republican lawmakers declined to extend ACA subsidies in their so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which is also expected to slash an estimated $1 trillion in Medicaid spending over the next decade, leading to health clinic closures, while giving more tax breaks to the ultrawealthy. Even the longest federal government shutdown in history—which a handful of moderate Senate Democrats ultimately ended without any real concessions—couldn't convince the GOP to extend the expiring tax credits.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has faced calls to step down over his handling of both shutdowns this year, stressed in a Wednesday statement that the healthcare crisis beginning Thursday "was entirely preventable—caused by Republican obstruction and total inaction."
"Millions of Americans will lose their healthcare, and millions more will see their costs spike by thousands of dollars," he continued. "Millions of hardworking families, small business owners and employees, older Americans, and farmers and ranchers will face impossible choices."
Specifically, about 22 million people who receive subsidies face higher premiums next year, and experts warn nearly 5 million people could become uninsured if the tax credits aren't extended. That's on top of the at least 10 million people expected to lose Medicaid coverage over the next decade, thanks to the OBBBA that President Donald Trump signed into law this summer.
Noting that the expiring subsidies are set to leave millions of Americans without health insurance, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declared on social media Wednesday, "Republicans don't give a damn."
The Chicago Tribune on Wednesday shared the story of Eleanor Walsh, of St. John, Indiana. She and her husband, who are both self-employed, paid around $9,100 for health insurance this year. In 2026, it will increase to $23,400. To save money, they are going with another plan, which has a $10,130 deductible for each of them, she told the newspaper.
"We're going through every expense we have," said Walsh, whose family has over $10,000 in medical debt from her husband's recent open-heart surgery. "It's going to be a rough year."
In Alta, Wyoming, Stacy Newton and her husband similarly run small businesses and buy health insurance through the ACA marketplace. She was diagnosed with chronic leukemia last year. The cheapest option to cover the couple and their teenage kids next year includes a $3,573 monthly premium, or nearly $43,000 for the year, with a $21,200 deductible.
"It's terrifying... We're not rich, we're not poor. We're a standard, middle-class family, and somehow now I can't afford health insurance," Newton told the Washington Post. "If my leukemia acts up, I'm up a creek... I just don't have a solution yet."
"I just officially canceled my ACA marketplace insurance for 2026," she told the paper earlier this week. "How on Earth is this going to unfold for millions of people in America?"
While Americans are forced to make coverage decisions before open enrollment ends in mid-January, without any promise of the subsidies returning, Schumer signaled that Democrats are still fighting for a fix in Washington, DC.
"Senate Republicans had multiple chances to work with Democrats to stop premiums from skyrocketing—and every time, they blocked action," he said. "While Republicans chose to do nothing and ignore the pain families will feel starting tomorrow, Senate Democrats are fighting to lower costs, protect coverage, and make life more affordable—not harder—for American families."
Four Republicans in the House of Representatives have signed on to a discharge petition to force a January vote on Democratic legislation to extend the credits for three years. Roll Call reported Tuesday that "with the knowledge that a procedural vote on a similar bill was rejected in the Senate, a bipartisan group of senators is working on a compromise to extend the credits."
However, as the outlet also pointed out, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has called Democrats' three-year extension of the tax credits a "waste of money."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)—one of the lawmakers who has used the current healthcare debate to renew demands for Medicare for All—took aim at Thune on social media Monday.
Other lawmakers have kept up the battle for universal healthcare this week. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Tuesday that "everyone in America—no matter what their ZIP code is—should have access to the quality healthcare they need, when they need it. That's why I'm fighting to put us on the path to Medicare for All."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who reintroduced the Medicare for All Act in April with Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) and Debbie Dingell (Mich.)—highlighted Sunday that "millions of Americans remain at jobs they hate for one reason: the health insurance they receive."
"That's absurd," he said. "Universal healthcare will give Americans the freedom to choose the work they want without worrying about healthcare coverage. Another reason for Medicare for All."
Absent any real progress on the ACA, let alone Medicare for All, in DC, "at least a dozen states are working to shield people from soaring health insurance costs following Congress' failure to extend Obamacare subsidies for tens of millions of Americans," Politico reported Monday.
Elected officials are taking action in states including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Mexico, the last of which is the only one so far to cover all expiring subsidies, according to the outlet.
"We can carry the cost for a little bit, but at some point, we will need Congress to act," said the speaker of New Mexico House of Representatives, Javier Martínez (D-11). "No state can withstand to plug in every single budget hole that the Trump administration leaves behind."
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GOP Senators Blasted for Voting to 'Spike Healthcare Costs for Millions'
"This was a calculated attack on hard-working families across the nation, all so Republicans can keep showering billionaires and big corporations with tax breaks."
Dec 11, 2025
The Republican Party "owns the healthcare crisis to come," said US Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Thursday after the GOP voted down a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, all but guaranteeing that health insurance premiums will double on average for about 22 million Americans—and at least one Republican lawmaker couldn't help but agree with her.
"If you're not concerned, then you're living in a cave," said Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) regarding the impact the vote could have on the Republican Party in next year's midterm elections. "If you're not watching the elections that are happening all the time, then you're living in a cave."
The much-anticipated vote came more than two months after the beginning of a record-breaking shutdown which lasted from October-November and started when Democrats refused to back a spending bill that would have allowed for the expiration of the ACA subsidies. A November poll found that Americans blamed President Donald Trump and the GOP for rising healthcare costs and for the shutdown.
On Thursday, and as expected, the vast majority of Senate Republicans refused to join Democrats in voting to extend the subsidies.
Four Republicans—Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Susan Collins of Maine—voted in favor of the extension, but the legislation failed by a vote of 51-48, with 60 votes needed for it to pass.
A GOP bill failed by the same margin. Introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the legislation would have allowed the subsidies to expire on December 31, but would have replaced them with an annual payment of up to $1,500 in tax-advantaged health savings accounts to help people pay for out-of-pocket healthcare costs. The HSAs would not be usable for monthly premium payments and only people with high-deductible or catastrophic plans on the ACA exchanges would be eligible.
Trump gave his tacit approval of the plan but didn't explicitly endorse it; he has not released a healthcare plan of his own.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the GOP proposal was "essentially to hand people about $80 a month and wish them good luck."
“So, to get that $80 a month, you’re going to pay $7,000 off the top before you even get any health insurance," he said. "How ridiculous. How stingy. And how mean and cruel to the American people.”
GOP leaders in the House have said they hope to hold a vote on healthcare next week, but they don't yet have a proposal for the vote. Meanwhile, some Republicans in swing districts have urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to simply hold a vote on extending the ACA tax credits as Democrats have been demanding for months—with some signing two discharge petitions to circumvent Johnson and force a vote.
The advocacy group Protect Our Care condemned Republicans after Thursday's vote for delivering "one of the most devastating blows to American healthcare in years."
“Senate Republicans didn’t just turn their backs on American families—they actively voted to spike healthcare costs for millions,” said Protect Our Care president Brad Woodhouse. “They know ending the tax credits will send premiums skyrocketing, force people off their coverage, and push families to the brink just to afford a doctor’s visit, and they did it anyway. This was a calculated attack on hard-working families across the nation, all so Republicans can keep showering billionaires and big corporations with tax breaks."
"Every person left uninsured, every skipped prescription, every family thrown into financial turmoil is the direct result of the choice Republicans made," added Woodhouse. "With this vote, Republicans told struggling families loud and clear: ‘You’re on your own.’”
Michelle Sternthal, director of government affairs at health advocacy organization Community Catalyst, emphasized that Republicans voted to end the subsidies at the end of a year of "record enrollment, illustrating just how essential affordable coverage is to people’s health and economic stability."
The vote came as Trump is seeking to deny that Americans are struggling to afford groceries, healthcare, and other essentials—claiming he would give the economy an "A+++++" rating on Tuesday and asserting that prices are going down, even as he was launching a nationwide tour focused on affordability. A Politico poll released this week found that nearly half of Americans are having trouble affording the necessities of everyday life, and 55% blame Trump's policies for the affordability crisis.
“It is beyond ironic that the party that campaigned on lowering costs is now responsible for double digit premium increases for families," said Sternthal on Thursday. “This was a deliberate choice. By sabotaging the extension of enhanced ACA premium tax credits, congressional Republicans are deepening the affordability and medical debt crisis—driving premiums higher and forcing millions of families to choose between the care they need and putting food on the table."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the healthcare vote called into question for the latest time the Trump administration's promise that it aims to "Make America Healthy Again."
At MoveOn Civic Action, chief communications officer Joel Payne condemned Senate Republicans for voting to double healthcare premiums as grocery and rent prices rise—but also reserved some outrage for the Democrats who voted to end the shutdown in November after securing no commitment from the GOP that the party would protect people's healthcare.
“Donald Trump and Republicans will not lift a finger to do anything about the healthcare crisis that they created," said Payne. "If Senate Democrats held firm during the government funding debate and used the leverage the grassroots created for them, they would have been in a stronger position to deliver more affordable healthcare for the American people."
"This predictable outcome shows us yet again," Payne added, "that working people need a robust opposition party to stop Republicans and the Trump administration from screwing us.”
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House GOP Leader Says 'Let This Process Play Out' as Millions Lose Food Aid, Premiums Skyrocket
"Mike Johnson's callousness is appalling," said one healthcare campaigner.
Nov 07, 2025
Americans are skipping meals and falling behind on bills, lines at food banks are expanding, and millions are watching with alarm as their health insurance premiums skyrocket, but Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday that he's prepared to "let this process play out" rather than negotiate with Democrats to end the longest government shutdown in US history.
During a news conference, Johnson (R-La.) said he would not agree to hold a vote on extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies in exchange for Democratic votes to end the shutdown.
"I am not promising anybody anything," said Johnson, confirming Democrats' warnings that the GOP can't be trusted to uphold what would amount to a pinkie promise for an ACA vote.
"I am going to let this process play out," he added.
Johnson's remarks drew swift backlash. Leslie Dach, chair of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, said in a statement that "as Trump-GOP policies devastate Americans from coast to coast, and congressional Republicans continue the longest government shutdown in history, Mike Johnson's callousness is appalling."
"He won't even agree to allow a vote in the House to restore the healthcare tax credits that Republicans stripped away from millions of Americans," said Dach. "He'd rather more small businesses be financially annihilated, more hospitals vanish out of thin air, and more Americans—including in his own district—empty out their life savings just to go to a doctor."
"It's unconscionable," Dach added, "and voters, as they demonstrated in the November 4th bellwether elections across the nation, will hold the GOP to account for playing with their lives and selling out the American people—all so Republicans can provide more tax breaks to their billionaire buddies."
On Friday, as shutdown chaos and pain continues to spread nationwide, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is planning to call a vote on a plan that would temporarily fund the government and advance several appropriations bills. The proposal also includes a promise of a future vote on the ACA tax credits, which expire at the end of the year.
It's unlikely that Senate Democrats, who convened for a lengthy meeting Thursday afternoon, will accept the proposal, as they've demanded more concrete concessions from Republicans on the ACA subsidies. Republicans need at least seven Democratic senators to break ranks for the bill to pass.
Politico reported Friday that "Senate Democrats are splintered over how much stock to put into Thune's commitment, given the South Dakota Republican has also said he cannot guarantee an outcome of any such vote."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told the outlet that Democrats shouldn't "proceed without knowing that these healthcare premiums are not going to go up by 200%."
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ACA Marketplace Previews Show Staggering Premium Spikes Due to GOP Subsidy Cuts
"I might die if I stop going to the doctor," said one Tennessee resident whose premiums jumped from $10 to $1,140 a month.
Oct 16, 2025
More than 20 million Americans are expected to see their health insurance premiums more than double next year after Republicans refused to extend a tax credit for those who purchase health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
And as the GOP remains firm in its stance that it will not vote to extend the credits in order to end the government shutdown entering its third week and the open enrollment period for ACA insurance fast approaching, Americans in some states are already getting a glimpse into how the price of their insurance will skyrocket in 2026.
On Wednesday, ACA health insurance marketplaces in six states—California, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, Oregon, and Kentucky—launched "window shopping" tools that allow residents to compare their current insurance premiums with the ones they can expect to pay next year.
Across each of these states, the advocacy group Protect Our Care found plans that are expected to increase dramatically, sometimes to prices several times higher than they were this year.
“There is no longer any doubt about the healthcare disaster Republicans have created,” said the group's chair, Leslie Dach. “Working families can now log onto a computer and see the Republican healthcare betrayal right before their eyes."
Middle-income Americans who are older, but not yet old enough to receive Medicare, are expected to see the steepest increases in their premiums, according to KFF. When Protect Our Care looked at plans for 60-year-old couples making $85,000 a year, the group found staggering results in each state.
In Clay County, Kentucky, the group found that a Clear Silver plan, which charges that couple a premium of $559 per month this year, will cost $2,736—nearly five times that amount—next year after subsidies expire.
A screenshot of California's Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace website shows the price of an Anthem Blue Cross Silver plan for a couple in Mission Viejo, California, in 2025 (L) vs. 2026 (R). (Screenshot from Protect Our Care)
In Mission Viejo, California, premiums for the same couple's Anthem Blue Cross Silver plan would more than quadruple, from $516 per month this year to $2,188 next year.
The same is true in Medford, Oregon, where a Moda Health Silver plan would increase from $622 this year to $2,644.
In Burlington, Vermont, an MVP Silver plan that costs $602 per month this year will spike to $2,577.
While these are particularly egregious examples, KFF estimated earlier this month that the average ACA recipient will see their premiums increase by 114% next year, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office expects will result in more than 4 million people becoming unable to afford health insurance.
State-level estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) found that across the states that have opened window shopping, costs for many families were doubling, tripling, or worse.
Residents across the country are beginning to grapple with the extraordinary rise in costs they are about to face.
In Tennessee, where more than half a million people pay lower premiums due to the ACA subsidies, a 62-year-old Chattanooga resident, Cheri Roberts, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that if they are allowed to expire, her current $10 a month premium will explode to $1,140 next year.
"I just had no idea," Roberts said about the expiring tax credits, adding that she sees eight different specialists for varying health issues and has multiple surgeries planned. "I'm not trying to exaggerate, but I might die if I stop going to the doctor."
Julia Tilley, a resident of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, told PennLive/The Patriot-News that she fears her premiums will soar as Pennsylvania's insurance department predicts a premium increase of 102% on average for its 530,000 ACA recipients.
Though she says she has not yet received a letter from her insurer, Tilley said one of her friends was told their family's premiums were ballooning from $100 to $1,800 a month.
“There’s really no way to prepare for it,” Tilley said. “I mean, how do you suddenly come up with $15,000 more a year? My husband can’t work more because he has a head injury."
Tilley says she already works full-time taking care of her adult daughter, who has autism. "It’s not like I can go get another job," she says. "So we’re stuck.”
She says she has tried on multiple occasions to reach out to her Republican congressman, Rep. Scott Perry, but has not heard back.
According to KFF, 57% of ACA recipients live in congressional districts represented by Republicans, and polls by the organization have suggested that failure to extend the subsidies may hurt their electoral chances.
A poll from early October found that 78% of adults say that Congress should extend the subsidies, including the vast majority of Democrats and independents and even 57% of self-identified "MAGA" Republicans. If the subsidies are not extended, 39% who support extending them have said they'd blame US President Donald Trump, while another 37% say they'd blame Republicans in Congress. Just 22% say they'd blame Democrats.
"Virtually all marketplace enrollees—across states, ages, family sizes, and income levels—will see big premium increases," said Gideon Lukens, a senior fellow and director of health policy research for CBPP. "These are real people facing real consequences if Congress doesn’t act to extend the enhancements as soon as possible."
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Here's a Map of What Trump-GOP Destruction of US Hospitals Looks Like
"Hospitals count on Medicaid to keep their doors open," said healthcare advocacy group Protect Our Care. "Medicaid accounts for one fifth of spending on hospitals, one fifth of hospital discharges, and at least one in five inpatient days in nearly every state."
Aug 21, 2025
The healthcare advocacy organization Protect Our Care has been tracking financially troubled hospitals across the country that are projected to take a big hit thanks to the Medicaid cuts in the massive Republican budget package—and the group has produced a new tool to let people see the damage being done in real time.
The organization on Wednesday launched a new project called "Hospital Crisis Watch" that identifies and provides updates on healthcare facilities around the country at risk of closure thanks to the Medicaid cuts, and produced an interactive map showing exactly which hospitals and medical centers are in danger.
These are all the hospitals in America that are already facing cuts and closures so Trump can give more tax breaks to the rich.
via @ProtectOurCare pic.twitter.com/ws9PqqJWBA
— Americans For Tax Fairness (@4TaxFairness) August 20, 2025
Protect Our Care found that the most vulnerable facilities tend to be in rural areas, identifying 338 endangered rural hospitals throughout the US. The state of Kentucky has the largest concentration of vulnerable hospitals with 35, followed by Louisiana at 33, and California at 28.
In a report about the threats these hospitals face, Protect Our Care explained why Medicaid funding, which the GOP budget package slashed by $1 trillion over the next decade, is vitally important to these institutions' financial well being.
"Hospitals count on Medicaid to keep their doors open," the report said. "Medicaid accounts for one fifth of spending on hospitals, one fifth of hospital discharges, and at least one in five inpatient days in nearly every state."
The report also pointed to an analysis from Commonwealth Fund estimating that more than 475,000 healthcare workers would lose their jobs as a result of the cuts. This would have serious economic ramifications for rural areas given that "hospitals employ 10% of all employees in rural counties that report having any hospital employment," explained Protect Our Care.
Even if these hospitals don't shut down, Protect Our Care warned that they are likely to slash services and increase wait times in emergency rooms.
The potential closure of hospitals isn't the only crisis facing American healthcare. A separate report from Protect Our Care earlier this week documented how health insurance premiums are expected to skyrocket in the coming year unless the Republican-led Congress passes an extension to enhanced subsidies for people who buy their insurance through the exchanges created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Our one big beautiful premium is about to get much bigger https://t.co/reN0uyyiPw
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) August 21, 2025
"Because of these GOP policies, insurance companies have already indicated they plan to raise premiums for 24 million Americans by an average of 15%," the group noted. "At the same time, Republicans are ripping away tax credits from 20 million, forcing them to pay an average of 75% more for their coverage. These price hikes will cause countless hard-working families to lose life-saving coverage while millions more will suffer under the already-rising cost of living."
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Entirely Absent From Trump Speech to Congress: His Push for Catastrophic Medicaid Cuts
"He knows his plan to cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid is so deeply unpopular that he would rather sweep it under the rug and not mention it at all."
Mar 05, 2025
President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night was the longest in recent history, giving him ample opportunity to lay out his complete legislative agenda to the American public.
While Trump highlighted his push for "permanent income tax cuts"—which would disproportionately flow to the rich—he did not once mention that he has endorsed a House GOP plan to offset some of the costs of those tax cuts by taking a sledgehammer to Medicaid, which provides health coverage to more than 70 million low-income people in the United States.
In fact, the only mention of Medicaid during the address came not from Trump but from Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who yelled at the beginning of the speech that the president "has no mandate to cut Medicaid."
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) subsequently ordered the sergeant-at-arms to remove Green from the House chamber.
"Trump can try to run from his war on American healthcare, but he can't hide from it."
Medicaid cuts are extremely unpopular with U.S. voters, including Trump supporters, according to recent survey data. And Republicans know it: Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), who voted for the budget resolution calling for huge cuts to Medicaid, warned Trump in a phone call last week that the GOP "could very easily lose the majority for it."
Brad Woodhouse, president of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, said that could help explain why Trump omitted any mention of House Republicans' proposal for $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years—cuts that could strip healthcare from tens of millions of people across the country.
Protect Our Care organized a "Hands Off Medicaid" display outside the White House ahead of the president's address.
"Donald Trump can try to run from his war on American healthcare, but he can't hide from it," Woodhouse said in a statement late Tuesday. "He knows his plan to cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid is so deeply unpopular that he would rather sweep it under the rug and not mention it at all."
"While people are struggling to pay their bills, he wants to raise the cost of healthcare and take away coverage that millions of people count on," Woodhouse added. "Trump is breaking the promises he made to the American people just to provide his billionaire friends with tax cuts."
No plan to lower health care costs. No solutions to bring down prescription drug prices. Not a single mention of Medicaid, which covers more than 72M Americans. Trump has no answers for the health care crises facing working families—because they’re the ones making it worse.
— Protect Our Care (@protectourcare.org) March 4, 2025 at 11:02 PM
As Trump celebrated the destructive actions he's taken during the opening weeks of his second White House term and rattled off examples of purportedly wasteful spending he claimed was identified by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) quipped that "this list is so long and taking up so much real estate in his speech it's almost like they want to distract from their massive cuts to Medicaid."
"Trump backed the GOP into a big corner with his 'balanced budget' point," Ocasio-Cortez added, referring to the president's expressed desire to "do what has not been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget."
"The ONLY way the House GOP could even think about upholding their 'no cuts to Medicaid' swing seat promises and their spending cut mandates is deficit spending and bad math," the New York Democrat wrote. "Now they have to gut Medicaid and hand it to Elon in public."
Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, observed that the recently passed House GOP budget resolution's tax cuts "are so large that even with massive cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and student loans that budget would INCREASE the deficit."
During his address, Trump claimed that "the next phase" of his economic plan is "for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody."
But an analysis published last week by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the Medicaid cuts outlined in House Republicans' budget resolution would "squander most of the meager benefits from the [Tax Cuts and Jobs Act] extension even for families in the middle fifth of the income distribution."
"Medicaid cuts will substantially reduce incomes for families in the bottom 40% (the bottom two-fifths) of the income distribution," EPI found. "For the bottom fifth, $880 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade would translate into Medicaid benefit reductions equal to 7.4% of their money income. For the second fifth, these cuts would equal 1.7% of their money income."
In his response to the president's speech Tuesday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that "in so many words, Trump urged Congress to pass his 'big, beautiful budget.'"
"Do you know what's really in it? This budget would cut Medicaid by $880 billion. Oh, I guess Trump forgot to talk about that," said Sanders. "According to one estimate, it means that up to 36 million Americans, including millions of children, would be thrown off the health insurance they have."
"A 90-minute speech tonight," the senator added, "not one word about throwing millions of kids off of the health insurance they have."
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