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Pharma Giants Reap Record $300 Billion in Revenue Under Trump as Millions of Americans Ration Medications
"Yet again, Trump has betrayed the American people and put billionaires ahead of working families.”
Aug 14, 2026
The world's ten largest pharmaceutical giants reaped around $300 billion in combined global revenue during the first half of 2026 as millions of people in the US—the country with the highest drug prices in the world—stretched, skipped, or rationed doses to afford their medications, despite President Donald Trump's lofty pledges to slash costs.
An analysis released Thursday by the advocacy group Protect Our Care estimates that Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, AbbVie, Merck, Pfizer, and other pharma behemoths collectively reported $298 billion in revenue in the first half of the year—a $24 billion increase compared to 2025—and distributed $63 billion in benefits to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends.
"The numbers speak for themselves," said Vaishu Jawahar, director of policy programs at Protect Our Care. "While big drug companies make record-breaking sales, raking in billions more than they did last year, a growing number of Americans are struggling to afford their prescription drugs. Yet again, Trump has betrayed the American people and put billionaires ahead of working families.”
Throughout his second White House term, Trump has made mathematically impossible claims about his efforts to curb drug costs, asserting repeatedly that he has cut prices by upwards of 1,000%. Critics of the Trump administration's approach have noted that it has relied on voluntary and secretive deals with pharmaceutical companies, which have gone on to raise prices after meeting with the president and showering him with praise.
One high-profile administration initiative, TrumpRX, has been widely denounced as a scam that will do virtually nothing to lower drug costs for most Americans. The president has also worked to weaken the Medicare drug price negotiation program established during the Biden administration.
“Instead of lowering drug prices for seniors, Trump is holding backroom deals with big drug companies and handing them blockbuster giveaways," said Jawahar. "He has created loopholes for industry giants to evade price negotiations and jack up drug prices for seniors."
The advocacy group Patients for Affordable Drugs noted in a March report that during the first week of 2026, pharmaceutical companies "increased prices on 64 oncology drugs, with 73% of hikes exceeding inflation."
Sixty percent of US adults say they are struggling or worried about being able to afford their prescription medications, according to recent polling from the health policy research organization KFF. The group said that number marked the highest level since 2018.
Separate polling released in March by the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America found that tens of millions of people in the US "said they have made at least one trade-off with daily living expenses to afford healthcare," including skipping a meal, prolonging a current prescription, and cutting back on utilities.
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Trump Order Rooted in Debunked Vaccine-Autism Link 'Will Get Kids Killed,' Warns Critic
Protect Our Care called the president's decree on the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine "a wildly dangerous escalation of the administration’s deadly anti-vax agenda."
Aug 10, 2026
US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order overhauling federal childhood vaccine recommendations, reviving a discredited theory that vaccines may contribute to autism and prompting condemnation from public health advocates and even rebuke from a Republican senator.
Trump's order, “Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans,” calls for separating the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination into three individual shots "once such products are domestically available." The directive also recommends administering childhood immunizations during separate medical visits, "to the maximum extent feasible."
At a press conference, Trump explained that the recommendations in his order concern "many subjects, but including autism in particular."
"Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today," the president said. "In those times, people were much healthier and, of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. So, there's a reason for such epidemic rates of autism. And we're going to bring it back to much closer to where it was."
"While we do not know exactly what the cause is with respect to autism, it is essential to our research efforts that we have the very best vaccine recommendations in the entire world," he added. "So we're reducing them, we're changing it to visits over the period of a year, a year and a half, so they get 20% of what they would have gotten in one big shot."
Decades of rigorous research have failed to produce any credible scientific link between vaccines and autism. That has not stopped influential figures, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from claiming such a link. Trump and Kennedy also alarmed experts by claiming last year that acetaminophen, commonly known by the brand name Tylenol, is linked to autism spectrum disorders in developing fetuses when taken during pregnancy.
While anti-vaccine and vaccine skeptic voices applauded Trump’s order, public health experts said the directive will prove deadly.
Trump also claimed that inoculating children with all three components of the MMR vaccine could possibly be "quite lethal," but when asked by a reporter for evidence supporting that claim, the president could offer none.
I put together these two parts of Trump’s event on vaccines.
Trump claims there is a possibility that the MMR vaccine could be “quite lethal.” But later, when asked if he has any evidence to back up his claims, he says no pic.twitter.com/AwuW9IiYNl
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 10, 2026
The Affordable Care Act advocacy group Protect Our Care warned that Trump's executive order on the "nonexistent autism-vaccine link will get kids killed" and "is a wildly dangerous escalation of the administration’s deadly anti-vax agenda."
“Pushing parents to spread out these lifesaving vaccines over time is guaranteed to increase kids’ exposure to these very harmful diseases, including the simple reality that follow-up appointments will be missed," Protect Our Care senior adviserc Anne Shoup said in a statement. "If Trump’s baseless, science-free decree is followed, the end result will not be fewer children with autism, but far more in the ER or even the morgue."
"Whether or not state health departments follow Trump’s ignorant guidance, this official proclamation from the highest level of power will have a further chilling effect on vaccination rates across the board," Shoup added. "All Trump is doing is fanning more unfounded fear, pressuring a further drop in vaccination rates, and welcoming a resurgence of preventable diseases once thought eradicated. For the anti-vaxxer-in-chief, the current record-breaking measles crisis is apparently not on a grand enough scale.”
Anthony Wright, executive director at the health advocacy group Families USA, said in a statement that “today, the president announced yet another change in vaccine policy that is not based on science or medical evidence."
"The science has not changed. Vaccines that prevent common illnesses like rotavirus, hepatitis B, and the flu are just as safe and effective today as they were yesterday," he continued. "The new policy will simply create chaos and confusion for patients and providers, and increase costs for families when getting their kids vaccinated."
"This executive order seeks to sidestep the established panel of experts entirely, replacing decades of bipartisan, public, evidence-based review with the whims of a rogue White House and HHS secretary," Wright said. "This new directive sabotages a science-based process that has successfully prevented widespread outbreaks among American children for generations."
“Downgrading the universal recommendation for common, lifesaving vaccines will cause confusion for parents and providers alike, and confusion costs lives," he added. "Removing the presumption that every child should receive them isn't just dangerous; it risks undermining the guarantee that recommended vaccines are covered without cost-sharing, forcing families to choose between protecting their kids and paying for an expensive doctor's visit."
Dr. Robert Steinbrook, health research group director at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said that "the Trump administration is continuing a mindless anti-scientific assault on the childhood vaccine schedule and falsely tying vaccines to autism."
"There is no medical reason for the MMR vaccine to be split into three separate single-disease shots that would be administered at separate office visits, changes that would only decrease vaccine coverage and increase healthcare costs," he continued. "Under the draft executive order, mandatory vaccine requirements for children to attend school would be also put at further risk. These and other directives are the exact opposite of ‘Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations’ during the worst year for measles cases in decades."
The resurgence in measles is directly linked to vaccine refusal and hesitancy stoked by influential figures and fora like Kennedy and the Children's Health Defense nonprofit group he formerly chaired.
Trump will sign an executive order proposing reducing childhood vaccines, and separating the MMR vaccine into 3 individual shots.This reckless move will decrease vaccine uptake further at a time where measles cases are at a 35-year high, and the US is set to lose its measles elimination status.
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran.com) August 10, 2026 at 12:24 PM
“Senate confirmation of Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should have restored sanity to the federal government’s vaccine policies," Steinbrook added. "Regrettably, within days of Schwartz’s confirmation, the Trump administration has offered only more irrational nonsense.”
Trump and Kennedy have pursued a broad rollback of federal vaccine policy, including by purging the CDC's entire vaccine advisory committee and replacing its members with controversial figures; reducing or eliminating universal recommendations for several vaccines, including Covid-19, flu, hepatitis B, and some childhood vaccines; canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in mRNA-vaccine development funding; and pushing individual decision-making.
Physicians serving in Congress from both parties also decried Trump's order.
“Donald Trump and RFK Jr. have gambled with American lives and seem determined to turn the clock back on decades of medical and scientific progress," said Congresswoman Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.), an OB-GYN. "Communities across the country continue to face outbreaks of preventable diseases, and Trump and RFK Jr. are doubling down on their dangerous disinformation."
"Meanwhile, working families continue to see their healthcare and prescription drug costs skyrocket—all so Trump can pay for tax handouts for billionaires," she added, referring to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill signed by the president in July 2025. "Families shouldn’t have to worry that Trump and RFK Jr. will stand in the way of protecting themselves and their loved ones from serious illnesses.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a gastroenterologist who voted to confirm Kennedy, wrote on X: "I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The president does not have the expertise to make these changes."
"Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism," he continued. "Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe."
"Parents should listen to their child’s pediatrician about vaccines rather than listening to an inaccurate executive order," Cassidy added. "This is so wrong."
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‘The Reality Is Ugly’: Trump Reportedly Pushing RFK Jr. to Ramp Up Assault on Vaccines
"If Trump gets his way and waters down the child vaccine schedule over the debunked autism myth, more American kids will suffer and die of preventable disease."
Jul 28, 2026
With the US already experiencing public health crises involving measles and explosive diarrhea, President Donald Trump reportedly believes it's time to further undermine Americans' faith in the safety of vaccines.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Trump in May asked US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. why he wasn't doing more to research disproven claims linking childhood vaccination with increased incidence of autism.
Trump specifically said he'd like to see Kennedy cut the number of shots the CDC recommends for children on the idea that doing so would make "autism rates drop, even if any such effect could take years."
Kennedy, despite being best known as an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist before being appointed as the nation's top health official, was reportedly "taken aback" by Trump's demands, as White House political advisers had asked him to tone down his rhetoric about vaccinations.
During a White House meeting roughly a month later, the Journal reported, Trump complained that Kennedy "wasn't doing enough" to reduce the number of childhood vaccinations.
Multiple high-quality medical studies have found no link between vaccines and autism.
Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care, expressed horror at the president leading the charge against childhood vaccinations, which are estimated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prevent 4 million deaths per year worldwide.
"The reality is ugly," said Woodhouse. "If Trump gets his way and waters down the child vaccine schedule over the debunked autism myth, more American kids will suffer and die of preventable disease. We’re already in the middle of a record-breaking measles crisis thanks to vaccine lies amplified loudly by this administration, yet Trump is determined to do more damage."
Gavin Yamey, director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health at Duke University, declared himself "livid" at Trump's latest efforts to undermine confidence in vaccines.
"Ahead of the midterms, RFK Jr. and Trump... are ALL IN on their dangerous anti-vaxx activism and conspiracy theories," Yamey wrote in a social media post. "There is a wealth of high quality evidence that vaccines do not cause autism."
Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney noted that Trump's false belief in a link between vaccines and autism stretches back years.
"For decades, Trump has pushed the lie that vaccines cause autism," Pitney wrote. "Now he reportedly wants RFK Jr. to push it even harder. The result? More US measles cases in the past 18 months than in the previous 20 years combined."
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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.
[image or embed]
— 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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