Study: Federal budget cuts hit most vulnerable groups hardest

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Federal spending and policy changes under President Donald Trump’s second administration are already affecting Americans’ health and could have lasting consequences, according to research by HPM’s Miranda Yaver alongside researchers from the University of Michigan.

Appearing in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, the study reviewed executive actions, including funding freezes and rescissions, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, using the World Health Organization Social Determinants of Health Framework.

“We wanted to see how these actions affected living conditions, inequities and our knowledge base, our ability to evaluate critical health programs,” said Yaver.    

This comes as the cost of health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace is projected to double next year, leaving millions without coverage. In addition, new federal work requirements for SNAP food assistance went into effect this month, and significant cuts and requirements to Medicaid and Medicare are expected to leave people with higher costs, less or no coverage and hurdles to benefits.

“Drawing on gray literature, we surveyed all of these actions and proposals to identify how, in this strange budgetary politics and fraught political environment, a lot os sweeping health policies took hits,” she said. “While we’ve seen a lot of deserved attention to Medicaid, we also traced the broader effects on things like energy assistance, education, food security and more.”

The paper distinguishes between consequences already documented, changes to existing programs whose effects are beginning to appear, and longer-term outcomes projected from established research, the university said. Together, the researchers said, the cumulative effects of budget decisions could shape health for years.

 


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