Jen Psaki claims Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) will kick 17 million people off their healthcare coverage by 2034. However, that figure is inflated by including 4.2 million people projected to lose coverage due to expiring Obamacare subsidies. Only 11.8 million are supposedly tied to provisions in BBB.
The Numbers:
Total Projected Losses: 16 million (rounded to 17 million by the media).
Medicaid Losses (7.8 million):
From BBB’s work requirements (disqualifying recipients unable to meet or document work hours).
From reduced federal funding, limiting state Medicaid programs.
ACA/Obamacare Losses (8.2 million):
4.2 million from expiring premium tax credits.
4 million from BBB rules, such as stricter income verification (to prevent ineligible enrollments), excluding DACA recipients from Marketplace coverage, and other Marketplace integrity measures.
BBB’s Projected Impact: 11.8 million (7.8 million Medicaid + 4 million ACA) from BBB provisions, not the 17 million Psaki cites.
However, this is merely a projection from Medicaid expansion advocates at the Kaiser Family Foundation. These numbers are a scare tactic built on shaky math and political spin, not reality. Trump’s BBB isn’t about kicking people off healthcare—it’s about giving states more responsibility to manage coverage for their eligible residents.
Transcript:
But looking at what is in the bill, it’s pretty clear to me that the problem they were seeking to address is, I guess, that the wealthy in this country have too little — and they pay too much in taxes — and the poor have too much. It’s the only thing that makes sense. And yeah, that question — and focusing your big legislative priorities on answering that question — is completely at odds with the often-repeated theory that Donald Trump is somehow a champion of working people. I mean, we have all — probably everybody watching right now — I definitely do – have long known that this is a farce. But now, with his signature legislation headed to his desk, there should be no doubt: Trump is no populist. A populist doesn’t kick 17 million people off their healthcare coverage. A populist doesn’t take food stamps away from millions of people. A populist doesn’t fund a massive immigration enforcement army with a budget bigger than many of the world’s militaries. And a populist definitely doesn’t do all of that while also giving over $4 trillion in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest people in the entire country. This is Donald Trump’s signature piece of legislation. It’s the chance he had, as president, to solve a problem in this country — at a time when, by the way, real problems need a lot of solving. Many people who voted for him were betting he was going to do something to help them. And yet, those very people who voted for him — who sent him to the Oval Office — many of them will be hit the hardest by this legislation.
I mean, Trump made huge electoral gains in counties with lots of voters on Medicaid, probably in part because he explicitly pledged never to cut Medicaid. Well, he just broke that promise to all those voters. And some of them don’t even know it yet. Some of them still have no idea what Trump and Republicans in Congress have just done. Polling shows that many Americans have not even heard about this giant bill at all, and of those who have only a sliver know it includes Medicaid cuts. And that is definitely a challenge for Democrats that we’ll talk with a few of my guest tonight because it kinda is the question now. But here’s the thing. The more people learn about what is in this bill, the less they like the bill, and all the components of it. And the people who do know what is in the bill are pissed.
