Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Trump Couldn't Repeal Obamacare, So He's Trying to Limit Access to Healthcare for the Poor in Other Ways

Trump Couldn't Repeal Obamacare, So He's Trying to Limit Access to Healthcare for the Poor in Other Ways
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement on health care while standing with "victims of Obamacare" at The White House on July 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chris Kleponis - Pool/Getty Images)

The administration has an insidious plan for Medicaid.

President Donald Trump has not been able to make good on his campaign promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But he’s determined to take health care away from Americans in other ways. After multiple attempts to repeal or replace the ACA, widely known as ObamaCare, failed in Congress amid massive public objection, no current plans to advance another bill are being considered. Instead, Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has called for “incremental” health-care reform, which means the GOP will quietly erode the individual protections that collectively make up the ACA.

A provision hidden in the 2017 GOP tax bill repealed the individual mandate, a requirement that Americans who do not have coverage through an employer or government program buy insurance on a health care exchange or face a financial penalty. The individual mandate served two purposes: to bring younger, healthier people into health care pools to add financial stability to the program, and to reduce the number of uninsured people seeking care in emergency rooms at taxpayer expense. The repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate will cause 13 million fewer Americans to be insured in 2027, says the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). 


The next target: Medicaid recipients. A provision under ObamaCare expanded Medicaid to low-wage workers whose employers who do not offer them insurance but who make too much money to qualify for state-sponsored health care. However, 18 states have refused to offer these protections to their residents, and now several red states are petitioning the federal government to lift this coverage requirement. The goal: To erode the number of people eligible for this last-resort health-care coverage option. Opponents of the provision claim it is expensive — and a step towards universal health care.

So far, two states — Indiana and Kentucky — have been granted permission to impose stricter work requirements on people who receive Medicaid. Now the GOP is planning to impose lifetime limits on the amount of time a person can receive Medicaid coverage. Five states have petitioned the government to treat Medicaid like welfare and put a time limit on how long an adult can receive health care coverage through the program. Welfare recipients may receive benefits for five years.

Arizona and Utah both want a five-year lifetime limit on coverage. Utah’s plan would come “with the expectation that they do everything they can to help themselves before they lose coverage,” according to the state’s waiver application. In Arizona, time-limited coverage would only accrue during months when enrollees don’t meet their work requirements, which the state is also seeking in their waiver application. Wisconsin wants to limit lifetime coverage for childless adults to 48 months. Kansas would limit coverage to 36 months.

In other states, the opposition to Medicaid expansion isn’t universal among the GOP, however. Terry Kilgore, a legislator from a rural district in Virginia, has called for his state to join the Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare. His constituents in the coal-mining district, which is being ravaged by an epidemic of black lung disease, have asked for help with health care coverage. "I'm not that far out on a limb,” he told Fredericks. “We have to step up, we can't be the party of 'no.'”

Health-care advocates in the state say that Medicaid expansion will provide health coverage to 240,000 uninsured Virginians, create 30,000 jobs and bring millions of federal dollars back into the state.

In addition, critics of the Trump administration’s plan to limit Medicaid coverage say that route will be expensive, and create an enormous administrative burden as states track individual recipients’ employment, eligibility and disability status. Losing coverage will also exacerbate health problems for people, making it even more difficult for them to find work.

In addition, low-wage workers who may not get health coverage through their jobs could also reach their Medicaid coverage limit “as if it’s their fault that their job isn’t offering insurance,” said Leonardo Cuello, director of health policy at the National Health Law Center. “And this would happen to thousands upon thousands of people across the country.”

Time-limiting health coverage also runs the risk of pushing sick people into costly emergency rooms where their care will be paid for by taxpayers. If they aren’t too sick, too old or too young, their only option will be to get a job that provides health insurance. But that’s about to get harder to find too.

The Trump administration is planning to eliminate ObamaCare’s employer mandate, which imposes a financial penalty on businesses with 50 or more employees that do not offer health coverage for their workers. Reps. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) are pushing to have a suspension of the mandate included in an upcoming long-term spending deal March 22. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about half of Americans get coverage through an employer.

What happens if employees lose coverage from their employers and are ineligible for coverage through Medicaid? Well, there’s still the emergency room.

[The Trump administration still wants to take away your health care.]

[Health care, ObamaCare, ACA, insurance, employer mandate, Medicaid]

More from News

Screenshots of TikToker Kierra King from her videos
@kierraking616/TikTok

Black Woman Stunned After Medical Clinic Labels Her As 'King Kong' On Testing Kit

A California medical clinic is under fire on the internet for labeling a black woman's medical testing kit "King Kong."

TikToker Kierra King shared a video of her confrontation with a medical assistant, asking how the racist indiscretion could've gone unchecked after clinic worker feigned ignorance over the unsettling matter.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nayib Bukele; Chris Van Hollen
Hector Vivas/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Bukele Trolls Dem Senator By Staging Bizarre 'Margaritas' Photo-Op With Deported Maryland Dad

El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele trolled Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen in a social media post on Thursday, claiming that Van Hollen and wrongly-deported Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia sipped "margaritas" on a restaurant patio after Van Hollen finally secured a meeting.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who arrived in the U.S. in 2012, was labeled a threat in 2019 due to an alleged connection to the MS-13 gang. He spent months in detention before an immigration judge found he had a credible fear of persecution—not from MS-13, but from a rival group, Barrio 18, which he said had been extorting his family.

Keep ReadingShow less
Demi Moore; Mikey Madison
Gilbert Flores/Penske Media/Getty Images; Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Demi Moore Reveals Her Candid Reaction To Losing Best Actress Oscar To Mikey Madison

Sometimes, you just know, and that can certainty give you a little peace.

That was the experience actress Demi Moore had tat the 2025 Oscars ceremony when she "knew" that Mikey Madison was going to walk away with the award for Best Actress.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Jimmy Carter
RSBN; Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

Trump Slammed After Using Jimmy Carter's Death To Make A Gross Dig At Biden

President Donald Trump sparked backlash after he used the death of former President Jimmy Carter to criticize former President Joe Biden, saying Carter “died a happy man” knowing that that Biden's leadership was “worse” than his.

Carter, the longest-lived president in U.S. history, died in December at 100 years old. His funeral was one of pomp and circumstance, and projected an aura of unity amid the political turbulence that characterized the 2024 election cycle.

Keep ReadingShow less
Russell T Davies; Ncuti Gatwa
Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images for WFTV Awards; BBC One/Disney+

'Doctor Who' Writer Epically Claps Back At Trolls Accusing Him Of Making The Show Too 'Woke'

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies didn't hold back when asked about so-called fans who claim he’s turned the long-running sci-fi series “woke.”

Speaking on BBC Radio 2, Davies addressed criticism from what he called “online warriors” who have taken issue with recent casting choices—namely, Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa stepping into the TARDIS as the Fifteenth Doctor in 2023.

Keep ReadingShow less