More than five million Americans have lost health coverage across the US in the year since Donald Trump signed a Republican backed law that cut deeply into public healthcare spending, according to a report released Monday by Protect Our Care, which described the figure as the human toll of Trump healthcare cuts.
The losses trace back to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last July, which cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program over the next decade while delivering tax breaks expected to hand another $1 trillion to the richest 1% of Americans.
The Human Toll of Trump Healthcare Cuts
Protect Our Care said the biggest immediate drop came from Medicaid and CHIP. Citing recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state agencies, the group said total enrolment fell to 76.9 million from 80.8 million a year earlier, a decline of more than 3.8 million people.
According to KFF, another estimated 1.2 million people lost cover through the Affordable Care Act marketplace after Republicans declined to renew consumer tax credits that had lowered monthly costs, the report said. During the 2025 open enrolment period, 24.3 million Americans selected ACA plans. This year that figure slipped to 23.1 million as average premiums were projected to more than double on average.
The findings attribute the coverage losses to two concurrent pressures, declining Medicaid enrolment and rising costs for individuals purchasing insurance independently. Families who remained on Affordable Care Act exchange plans faced an average increase of $780, although this figure reflects a shift by many households to lower-cost plans with reduced benefits.
Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care, said the insurance losses were only part of the story. He said millions more were now making 'impossible choices every day to keep their coverage, including skipping rent or cutting back on groceries so they can see a doctor.' It is a familiar political phrase, sure, but the underlying maths is hard to shrug off.
Why Healthcare Cuts Could Climb Further
The first-year coverage losses are described as only an initial impact, with several of the law's most stringent Medicaid provisions yet to take effect. Beginning next year, many adult beneficiaries will be required to demonstrate completion of at least 80 hours of work or other qualifying activities per month to maintain eligibility.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that requirement alone could increase the uninsured population by 5.3 million by 2034. Another rule, requiring certain Medicaid expansion enrollees to prove their eligibility every six months, could leave another 700,000 people uninsured by the same year. Across the next decade, CBO analyses cited an estimate that roughly 15 million Americans could lose cover because of the legislation. And that is before the politics turns truly mad.
A KFF poll from January found that 66% of voters were worried about affording care. Another poll from April found 37% trusted Democrats more to handle healthcare costs, compared with 26% for Republicans, while 67% said they disapproved of the Trump administration's handling of those costs.
They cut healthcare by nearly a trillion to pay for tax cuts for the super wealthy.
— Congressman Greg Landsman (@RepGregLandsman) June 23, 2026
Now, Americans are losing their healthcare 👇🏼🧵
Tens of millions of Americans get their healthcare through Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act. The cuts will result in as many as 24 million…
Democrats have started using the report as campaign material ahead of the midterms. Representative Greg Landsman, who faces a competitive re-election race in Ohio's 1st Congressional District, wrote on X on 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.'
He went further in the same post, writing that 'the healthcare crisis in America is dominating the lives of millions, and will soon dominate all of our lives.' For Republicans heading into November, that may be the uncomfortable part of this story. Five million is not just a headline number. It is the kind of figure that sticks around.
