President Donald Trump rode to reelection last fall on voter concerns about prices. But as his administration pares back federal rules and programs designed to protect patients from the high cost of health care, Trump risks pushing more Americans into debt, further straining family budgets already stressed by medical bills.<\/p>\n
Millions of people are expected to lose health insurance in the coming years as a result of the tax cut legislation Trump signed this month, leaving them with fewer protections from large bills if they get sick or suffer an accident.<\/p>\n
At the same time, significant increases<\/a> in health plan premiums on state insurance marketplaces next year will likely push more Americans to either drop coverage or switch to higher-deductible plans that will require them to pay more out-of-pocket before their insurance kicks in.<\/p>\n Smaller changes to federal rules are poised to bump up patients\u2019 bills, as well. New federal guidelines for covid-19 vaccines, for example, will allow health insurers<\/a> to stop covering the shots for millions, so if patients want the protection, some may have to pay out-of-pocket.<\/p>\n The new tax cut legislation will also raise the cost of certain doctor visits, requiring copays of up to $35 for some Medicaid enrollees.<\/p>\n And for those who do end up in debt, there will be fewer protections. This month, the Trump administration secured permission from a federal court to roll back regulations<\/a> that would have removed medical debt from consumer credit reports.<\/p>\n That puts Americans who cannot pay their medical bills at risk of lower credit scores, hindering their ability to get a loan or forcing them to pay higher interest rates.<\/p>\n \u201cFor tens of millions of Americans, balancing the budget is like walking a tightrope,\u201d said Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. \u201cThe Trump administration is just throwing them off.\u201d<\/p>\n White House spokesperson Kush Desai did not respond to questions about how the administration\u2019s health care policies will affect Americans\u2019 medical bills.<\/p>\n The president and his Republican congressional allies have brushed off the health care cuts, including hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid retrenchment in the mammoth tax law. \u201cYou won\u2019t even notice it,\u201d Trump said<\/a> at the White House after the bill signing July 4. \u201cJust waste, fraud, and abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n But consumer and patient advocates around the country warn that the erosion of federal health care protections since Trump took office in January threatens to significantly undermine Americans\u2019 financial security.<\/p>\n \u201cThese changes will hit our communities hard,\u201d said Arika S\u00e1nchez, who oversees health care policy at the nonprofit New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.<\/p>\n S\u00e1nchez predicted many more people the center works with will end up with medical debt. \u201cWhen families get stuck with medical debt, it hurts their credit scores, makes it harder to get a car, a home, or even a job,\u201d she said. \u201cMedical debt wrecks people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n For Americans with serious illnesses such as cancer, weakened federal protections from medical debt pose yet one more risk, said Elizabeth Darnall, senior director of federal advocacy at the American Cancer Society\u2019s Cancer Action Network. \u201cPeople will not seek out the treatment they need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Trump promised a rosier future while campaigning last year, pledging to \u201cmake America affordable again\u201d<\/a> and \u201cexpand access to new Affordable Healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n Polls suggest voters were looking for relief.<\/p>\n About 6 in 10 adults \u2014 Democrats and Republicans \u2014 say they are worried about being able to afford health care, according to one recent survey<\/a>, outpacing concerns about the cost of food or housing. And medical debt remains a widespread problem: As many as 100 million adults<\/a> in the U.S. are burdened by some kind of health care debt.<\/p>\n Despite this, key tools that have helped prevent even more Americans from sinking into debt are now on the chopping block.<\/p>\n Medicaid and other government health insurance programs, in particular, have proved to be a powerful economic backstop for low-income patients and their families, said Kyle Caswell, an economist at the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n Caswell and other researchers found<\/a>, for example, that Medicaid expansion made possible by the 2010 Affordable Care Act led to measurable declines in medical debt and improvements in consumers\u2019 credit scores in states that implemented the expansion.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen that these programs have a meaningful impact on people\u2019s financial well-being,\u201d Caswell said.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s tax law \u2014 which will slash more than $1 trillion in federal health spending over the next decade, mostly through Medicaid cuts \u2014 is expected to leave 10 million more people without health coverage by 2034, according to the latest estimates<\/a> from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The tax cuts, which primarily benefit wealthy Americans, will add $3.4 trillion to U.S. deficits over a decade, the office calculated.<\/p>\n The number of uninsured could spike further if Trump and his congressional allies don\u2019t renew additional federal subsidies for low- and moderate-income Americans who buy health coverage on state insurance marketplaces.<\/p>\n This aid \u2014 enacted under former President Joe Biden \u2014 lowers insurance premiums and reduces medical bills enrollees face when they go to the doctor or the hospital. But unless congressional Republicans act, those subsidies will expire later this year, leaving many with bigger bills.<\/p>\n Federal debt regulations<\/a> developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Biden administration would have protected these people and others if they couldn\u2019t pay their medical bills.<\/p>\n The agency issued rules in January that would have removed medical debts from consumer credit reports. That would have helped an estimated 15 million people.<\/p>\n But the Trump administration chose not to defend the new regulations when they were challenged in court by debt collectors and the credit bureaus, who argued the federal agency had exceeded its authority in issuing the rules. A federal judge in Texas appointed by Trump ruled that the regulation should be scrapped.<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n