They called it the One Big Beautiful Bill. Cut nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid — the healthcare program covering the poorest Americans — and handed it back to billionaires as tax cuts. Signed on July 4th. Nothing says freedom like stripping healthcare from 16 million people so the top 10% can pocket an extra $13,600 a year.
Now the enforcement is live. Nebraska started Medicaid work requirements on May 1st. The paperwork is complicated by design — miss a form, lose your coverage. People who ARE working are getting cut because the bureaucracy is built to fail them. And while “work requirements” sound productive, researchers at Commonwealth Fund project up to a million healthcare jobs gone this year — hospitals, clinics, pharmacies losing Medicaid revenue, cutting staff. Work requirements. Destroying work. The CBO ran the numbers beforehand: the bottom 20% of earners would see a net loss across taxes, healthcare, and food benefits. The top 10% would gain. They were right.
70% of Americans say Trump’s policies have made their cost of living worse. His economic approval is at 30%. That 30% still cheering should check their next ER bill — or their neighbor’s, or ask the pharmacist who just got laid off. The bill is doing exactly what it was designed to do. It just wasn’t designed for you.