Donald Trump and Republicans’ Government Shutdown Will Make Health Care More Expensive for Latinos Arrow

As Donald Trump and Republicans inch closer to a government shutdown, they're putting over 22 million Americans at risk of skyrocketing premiums. That's on top of the more than 15 million Americans who will lose health care thanks to Trump's billionaire-first budget bill. UnidosUS estimates that Trump's budget will lead to about 4.1 million Latinos losing coverage, including over 700,000 in Texas and Florida, and more than 80,000 in Georgia. This threatens the lives of hardworking Latino families, mothers, and grandparents coping with the rising costs that Trump and Republicans have helped inflate.

Latinos are rightfully worried because Trump is creating another health care crisis on top of this and throwing them under the bus. It should be no surprise to Trump and Republicans that Americans want affordable, quality health care. Latino voters, especially generations older than 65, rank affordable health care among the top three most concerning issues that Trump and congressional Republicans should focus on.

In response, DNC Senior Spokesperson Marcus W. Robinson released the following statement:

"From Donald Trump's billionaire-first budget to the Republican-created shutdown, Trump and his GOP have manufactured a health care crisis, and they're doing nothing about it. Republicans would rather let health care premiums skyrocket and rip health care from millions of Americans than come to the negotiating table with Democrats. Latino voters constantly rank health care costs among their top concerns, but we've only seen Trump slash critical programs like Medicaid, and cozy up to Big Pharma - continuing his streak of broken promises and failing Latino families."

If Republicans and Trump follow through on their plan to eliminate health care subsidies, data show premiums will increase by an average of 75%. Meanwhile, health insurance companies are already jacking up premiums at the highest rate in 15 years, causing those who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's exchanges to see their costs skyrocket by double-digit rates.

As a reminder, Trump revoked an executive order signed by President Biden to protect and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, which has helped millions of Latinos access critical health care services.

All of this comes after Trump signed his "significant" piece of legislation: His billionaire-budget bill, which includes historic cuts to Medicaid. Around 74% of Latino voters overwhelmingly oppose the bill, and more than 76% of Latino voters are concerned about the Medicaid cuts. The disastrous budget bill will be particularly harmful to Latino children, 55% of whom rely on Medicaid and other public programs for health insurance.

As Trump and Republicans continue to lie about the disastrous impact of their billionaire-first budget and run away from the negotiating table, Americans will pay the price as their health care costs rise.