Health Care Sabotage: Hands Off Medicaid

The Republican threat to health care is real, both nationally and here in West Virginia. 

There are not too many issues more kitchen table than health care. Even those–some whom we know–who work hard to take away healthcare from others love their own health care.  

The last Trump administration was disastrous for Americans’ health care with repeated attempts to raise costs and kick millions off their coverage. Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its protections for pre-existing conditions, hike prescription drug and premium costs, and cut Medicaid – and they intend to do it all again. 

In 2018 and during a U.S. Senate campaign, Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia’s two-term attorney general, and now Governor, signed onto a lawsuit with 17 other states arguing that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional requesting that the law be struck down. If successful, this would have ripped healthcare away from 797,000 West Virginians with pre-existing conditions.

President Trump tried, and failed, during his first term to repeal and replace the ACA. More recently, U.S. House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson is on record saying Republicans would do a “massive reform” of the Affordable Care Act. 

When the ACA was enacted in 2010, the goal was to make healthcare more accessible and more affordable for more people. The ACA subsidized health insurance plans for working-class Americans and expanded the Medicaid program to insure the working poor. Governor Morrissey wants to end Medicaid Expansion in West Virginia – ending health coverage for over 164,000 Mountaineers.

No matter where you live or work, West Virginians want health care to be affordable and accessible. Republicans have been clear about their intentions:  cut Medicaid for kids and families to provide tax cuts for the ultra-rich, and rip away critical protections for pre-existing conditions. Across the board, the Republican health care agenda of putting profits over people is deeply unpopular. 

For now, here are the best of the worst of GOP efforts to sabotage your healthcare.  

February 2025

  • Halted all studies and activities within the NIH relating in any capacity to LGBTQ+ health, including active research programs.
  • Updated funding conditions for the Department of Transportation, requiring that groups seeking grants have anti-public health and anti-vaccine policies in place before they can receive any funding.
  • The Office for Minority Health was completely shuttered during Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s shock doctrine attack on federal agencies and its employees.

January 2025

  • Revoked a Biden administration order that prioritized protecting and strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in order to make high-quality health care accessible and affordable for every American. 
  • In a two-page memo, Donald Trump ordered a freeze on all federal financial assistance except Medicare and Social Security. This means billions of dollars in grants, any and all Medicaid services, ACA premium subsidies, and more may be unable to be provided to Americans. According to reports, all fifty states were briefly unable to access their Medicaid portals. The chaos and confusion surrounding this event leaves the future of Medicaid payments uncertain. 
  • Signed an executive order ending all funding for any kind of gender-affirming care for people 19 and under by threatening the revocation of all Medicaid and Medicare funding; as well the order further eroded patient privacy protections for all Americans.
  • Another OMB memo confirmed a pause on all funding for Rural Health and Safety Education Competitive Grants Program and Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants clawing back millions of dollars in funding for rural health programs.
  • Ordered a communication and hiring freeze for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as new restrictions, halting grant funding for lifesaving medical research. 
  • Revoked a Biden administration order instructing agencies to identify ways to expand affordable health coverage even further and help Americans enroll in quality health coverage. 
  • Revoked a Biden administration executive order which aimed to lower prescription drug costs for people on Medicaid or Medicare by analyzing new payment models. 

 

These GOP policies will result in higher costs and worse care – the exact opposite of what West Virginians want. West Virginians for Affordable Health Care will continue to monitor all the ways that politicians threaten your health care and its affordability.