Imagine that you are an American. One of the hundreds of millions who did not vote for Trump. You have a chronic lung disease, but have been able to afford treatment for this lifelong condition thanks to the financial aid you have been receiving for years. But now, the actions of a government you didn’t elect could lead to your life being cut short.
Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” was signed in 2025 and has many ugly consequences for Americans. Repercussions of the bill include cutting healthcare for those with low income, halting vaccination rollouts, and reducing subsidies for clean energy, which will result in decreased air quality. These impacts are predicted to have a serious detrimental effect on the life expectancy of Americans, according to a new study.
The study found the largest impact will be on America’s poorest, with their access to healthcare seriously affected. In particular, the study focused on individuals with lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), many of whom are reliant upon government supplementary schemes for the extortionate price of healthcare for which the US is notorious. One such scheme is Medicaid, a joint federal and state programme that aims to provide free or low-cost health care to those unable to afford it, covering approximately 70 million U.S. residents.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that this bill will reduce federal spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare) by around $1 trillion over the coming decade. The CBO also predicts that approximately 11.8m Americans could lose their health insurance, though this number could be even higher.
These Medicaid cuts will have many serious ramifications, such as the discontinuation of important medication including inhalers and cancer treatment drugs, delays in emergency care, and a reduction in lung transplant surgeries.
For those in the workforce, particularly jobs centred around manual labour like agriculture and mining, this bill could lead to delayed care for work-related injuries and illnesses, increasing the risk of chronic disability and premature death among workers who have become ill or injured.
Environmentally, this bill is devastating due to clean energy cuts, as well as the termination and discontinuation of other environmental protections. According to the study, this will further wreak havoc on Americans’ health, as pollution will cause air quality to rapidly decrease, inflaming chronic lung conditions.
The injustices of the Trump administration are far reaching, and with this new study we can gleam new insight into the vulnerable people whose lives are being put in jeopardy by Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill.
“President Trump’s First 100 Days: 18” by The White House is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.