Thanks to Republican Medicaid and ACA Cuts, Pennsylvanians Find Themselves in a Health Care Crisis

Following Republicans terminating Affordable Care Act subsidies and President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act which limits state funding for Medicaid and tightened restrictions to enrollee eligibility, experts say Pennsylvanians are caught up in a national health care crisis – marked by an unsustainable increase in insurance costs, a rising rate of uninsured citizens, and expanding medical debt. And local residents agree. 

“Even though it’s not great right now, access will get so much worse,” said Isha Weerasinghe, Director of Public Benefits Justice at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). While the national crisis impacts every American, states that implemented Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act over the past decade – including Pennsylvania – are feeling the squeeze especially tight.