President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill could make the largest cuts to Medicaid the program has ever seen, limit nutrition assistance benefits, and further eliminate access to family planning resources nationwide in exchange for tax cuts for the wealthy, according to the League of Women Voters. As many Americans struggle with healthcare access, how are tax cuts really America’s biggest concern?
America should focus on alleviating many of its current issues in terms of healthcare before signing new bills that will likely make things worse for its people. With the price of imported goods increasing due to Trump’s tariffs, obtaining affordable necessities will become more difficult, contributing to the cost of living becoming less economical. America is not new to cost burdens, with one of the country’s biggest concerns being healthcare affordability.
According to Genevieve Wood of The Heritage Foundation, a lack of affordable healthcare is among some of America’s biggest issues, with government programs “[skyrocketing]” in terms of cost, and a decline in consumer choice for who and where they can get their medical care from.
The bill’s cuts to Medicaid will intensify this, especially for Americans who originally benefited from the program. Additionally, the cost of premiums have increased, which has led to fewer people signing up for Medicaid, which doesn’t even guarantee healthcare, as fewer and fewer medical providers accept the program. The purpose of Medicaid is to provide access to healthcare for low-income Americans, yet studies show it has reliability and accessibility issues. And for the individuals who had signed up for Medicaid and hadn’t actually received healthcare, they may never receive it, which reduces the credibility of the American healthcare system. Despite the issue of a lack of affordable healthcare, there lies another problem accentuated by the bill– access to reproductive care.
As per Amnesty International, bans and restrictions on abortions led to “fear, confusion, and devastation” among the American people. It forces Americans to delay getting reproductive care, which poses a threat to many of their lives and health. Some are even forced to give birth. There has also been a rise in reproductive healthcare “deserts”, with fewer and fewer Americans having access to reproductive health services. The One Big Beautiful Bill cuts Medicaid funding that abortion providers receive, which negatively impacts the country’s family planning centers, according to Nixon Peabody.
For those in poverty, there exists an even stronger barrier, as most of these healthcare deserts are in low-income areas, and traveling out of state to receive abortion services isn’t a cost-friendly option. America has also dealt with attacks on abortion access for a few years now, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It is not illegal in all 50 states; however, it is becoming less accessible. With the new bill, exclusivity of the procedure is only exemplified. Abortions are already costly, with many low-income Americans not being able to afford the procedure or travel to other states to receive it.
The Center for Medicare Advocacy says that the cuts to healthcare will primarily affect low-income individuals and families and that the number of Medicaid enrollees will decrease. Low-income Americans will now have a new adversity thrown at them with the help of this new bill. Lawmakers are rescinding programs meant to help them, leaving many stranded in terms of healthcare security. Low-income Americans already have a lot to worry about, especially with tariffs contributing to the cost of living increasing yearly, as claimed by NPR.
The White House defended the bill, claiming it “[puts] America first”, “[boosts] the economy” and “[delivers] big wins for the American people”. However, defenders of this new bill only choose to speak on the monetary aspect, rather than the many other aspects the bill tackles. There’s more to the Big Beautiful Bill than how it may benefit the government, as an estimated 10 million Americans will be uninsured by 2034, according to KFF. Soaring living costs combined with a lack of insurance make living in the country challenging for most Americans, as data provided by Data Commons says that the median American citizen’s income in 2023 was $38,982, which CNBC says only makes the cut for a lower middle class income in four out of the 50 states.
With that being said, the United States faces many challenges– plenty of which could take decades to resolve. As the most populated country in North America, access to reliable healthcare is seen as a major problem. When compared to nine other core countries, the United States’ healthcare system was ranked last overall, with major factors including access, which the Commonwealth Fund claims those factors are “administrative efficiency,” equity, and “health outcomes. These challenges are varied, tackling many nuanced social issues that the United States has been familiar with for decades. The bill fails to address the problems within the country’s healthcare system that have negative impacts on Americans. The United States should put its people first, by striving to alleviate the issues in which the United States has been facing. A productive government would recognize the problems that its country is facing, and do its best to eliminate them.
