Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are imposing massive cuts to Medicaid in order to fund tax breaks for the richest Americans.
The “big, beautiful” Republican tax bill will make life easier for the wealthy at the expense of health care for the less fortunate
By Ryan Bort, May 17, 2025
Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are coming for your health care. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
The reconciliation bill President Donald Trump and Republicans are working to pass through Congress is chock-full of troubling provisions, but the tax plan ultimately boils down to a massive financial break for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of social programs that benefit the less fortunate — most notably Medicaid.
Trump implored Republicans to pass the “BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL!” on Friday, writing about how it cuts taxes for “ALL Americans” (not true) and would “kick millions of Illegal Aliens off of Medicaid to PROTECT it for those who are the ones in real need” (also not true).
Republicans on the House Budget Committee failed to pass the bill hours after Trump’s message — not because of the Medicaid cuts, but because they wanted them to be more extreme. Americans do not want more extreme cuts. The public holds an overwhelmingly positive view of Medicaid, with a whopping 76 percent opposing significant cuts to the program.
The tax bill that Republicans ultimately pass — public opinion be damned — is going to make life more difficult for millions of low-income Americans.
