Since taking office one year ago, Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have waged an unrelenting war on American health care, sacrificing coverage and affordability for working families in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. They have put coverage at risk for over 15 million Americans by making the largest cuts to health care in American history, slashing over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Hospitals are being pushed to the brink of collapse, with more than 600 hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes already closed or at risk of shutting their doors because of Republican health care cuts. Premium costs are more than doubling for over 20 million Americans after Republicans ended the health care tax credits. Meanwhile, trust in public health has been further eroded by HHS Secretary RFK Jr., who has promoted fringe ideas and greenlit policies with no scientific backing. In just twelve months, Trump and Republicans have left Americans paying more, losing coverage, and watching their health care system be dismantled in real time.
Here’s a closer look at all of the ways Trump and his GOP allies have sabotaged American health care:
January 2026
- Dramatically reduced the number of recommended vaccines for American children to 11, down from 17, effective immediately, with no scientific backing.
- Announced a health care agenda that does nothing but raise costs, worsen care, and roll back protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
- States are seeing the highest measles activity in over 30 years, as South Carolina reached more than 500 cases, with most cases being in unvaccinated people.
December 2025
- Ripped away the health care tax credits from hard-working families, creating a GOP-engineered affordability crisis, all to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.
- Stopped recommending the infant hepatitis B vaccine, despite one in four children who develop chronic hepatitis B dies.
- Paused more funding for NIH grants studying health equity.
- Ended grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including “initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and identifying autism early.”
November 2025
- Kept the government shut down for the longest period of time in history, refusing to deliver relief on skyrocketing premiums.
- Rejected Democrats offer to protect millions of hard-working families from exorbitant health care price hikes, despite the GOP health care crisis being deeply unpopular with the American people.
October 2025
- Shut down the government in order to end health care tax credits for working families across the country.
- Launched the Rural Health Transformation Program, created as part of the GOP budget bill, to distract from the rural health care collapse Republicans caused — with funding that falls far short of closing the gap left by gutting Medicaid and defunding hospitals.
- Fired N.I.H. whistleblower who warned that the steps taken by the Trump administration are endangering public health.
September 2025
- Restricted access to the COVID-19 vaccine by recommending the updated vaccine for people with health conditions and all people aged 65 and older only.
- Appointed five new members to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, including critics of the pandemic response and some who faced charges of spreading misinformation.
- Stopped recommending the measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella combined shot for children under age 4 despite no scientific evidence backing this decision.
- Promoted an unproven link between autism and Tylenol with no evidence.
- Hired Mark Blaxill, an anti-vaccine activist and author, as a senior advisor at the CDC.
August 2025
- Blocked hundreds of millions in funding for CDC health programs, including youth violence prevention, gun injury and death prevention research, and efforts targeting diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and tobacco use.
- Kicked top medical organizations out of workgroups for establishing vaccine recommendations.
- Signed an executive order rewriting the rules of how the federal government awards billions of dollars in research grants, giving Trump’s appointees unprecedented power.
- Canceled over $500 million in contracts and funding for the development of mRNA vaccines to fight respiratory illnesses.
- Refused to enforce a Biden-era rule limiting junk short-term health plans that are notorious for charging more or denying coverage altogether for people with conditions like asthma, diabetes, and cancer.
- Stopped research that was aimed at narrowing the health care gap between racial and socioeconomic groups, such as why minority and low-income Americans have shorter lives or suffer higher rates of illnesses.
- Revived the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines, which has been pushed for by anti-vaccine groups.
- Tapped Retsef Levi, who called the COVID-19 vaccine “the most failing medical product in the history of medical products,” to lead a committee to review the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine.
- Fired Susan Monarez, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after she refused to change vaccine policy without scientific backing.
July 2025
- Signed the GOP spending bill, codifying the largest health care cuts in history, kicking 17 million Americans off their health care, and putting hundreds of rural hospitals at risk of closing.
- Eliminated any further enforcement of a CMS rule that made it easier for people who rely on Medicare to enroll in Medicaid, CHIP, and the Basic Health Program.
- Effectively eliminated the enforcement of a CMS rule, which made it easier for people who rely on Medicare to enroll in Medicaid’s Medicare Savings Programs.
- Ended minimum nurse staffing requirements, increasing the risk of residents receiving unsafe and low-quality care in long-term care facilities.
- Lowered the cap on state-directed payments, which are a key source of revenue, especially in rural areas.
- Stopped states from implementing or raising new Medicaid provider taxes.
- Postponed a U.S. Preventive Services Task Force meeting that was set to discuss healthy diet, physical activity, and other steps to prevent cardiovascular disease.
- Delayed around $140 million in grants to fund fentanyl overdose response efforts.
June 2025
- Rescinded Biden-era guidance that directed hospitals to provide abortion care if needed to save a patient’s life or prevent serious harm under EMTALA, even if the state restricts or bans the procedure.
- Canceled contracts worth nearly $600 million for vaccines for flu subtypes that could trigger future pandemics.
- Ended two major HIV vaccine studies, setting back research at least a decade.
- Fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
- Named eight new members of the ACIP that include COVID-19 deniers and vaccine skeptics such as Robert Malone, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, and Vicky Pebsworth.
- Issued a rule shortening the Affordable Care Act enrollment period, stopping monthly enrollment periods for lower-income families, and adding miles of red tape to prevent hard-working Americans from obtaining affordable coverage.
- Hired Lyn Redwood, the former president of the Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization founded by Kennedy, to HHS.
May 2025
- Ordered NIAID’s Integrated Research Facility to stop research into Ebola and other infectious diseases.
- Issued an Executive Order on drug pricing that contained no policy specifics and was designed to distract Americans from the Republican assault on health care.
- Laid off hundreds more National Institutes of Health staff.
- Nominated Casey Means, a former physician, now wellness influencer who peddles dietary supplements, creams, and teas, as Surgeon General.
- Hired Vinay Prasad, an outspoken skeptic about COVID-19 vaccine mandates, as the Food and Drug Administration’s new top vaccine regulator.
- Stopped recommending COVID-19 vaccines for children and pregnant people.
- Limited access to COVID-19 vaccines to people aged 65 and older and others who are at high risk of becoming seriously ill if infected.
April 2025
- Passed a budget through Congress that slashes billions from Medicaid funding.
- Issued an Executive Order designed by big drug companies to delay Medicare drug price negotiations, giving drug companies four extra years to price gouge seniors.
- Enacted tariffs on medical supplies, such as pacemakers, increasing costs to companies by hundreds of millions of dollars, which may be passed on to consumers.
- Announced a significant increase in payments for Medicare Advantage plans, nearly
