Health officials are intensifying their criticism of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act’’ that was signed into law by President Donald Trump last month, warning that the bill will have compounding effects on the healthcare sector, violence prevention, and mental health services. Gun violence victims are among those at the greatest risk, The Trace reports.
“Ultimately, we know that this legislation will cost people their lives,” said Dr. Kyle Fischer, the policy director for the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, who has researched the effects of Medicaid expansion on gun violence victims.
The spending and tax bill will cut an estimated $1 trillion in healthcare costs over a decade, resulting in the loss of health insurance for up to 17 million Americans, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Others are likely to find it more difficult to retain their insurance under the legislation, which is also expected to cause extensive hospital closures. The cuts threaten to undo much of the progress made by health and advocacy organizations to make healthcare more accessible.
Perhaps most significant for shooting victims, the legislation will significantly defund Medicaid, which insures more than 70 million Americans, nearly 50% of whom are children. Research has found that, since the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid is the single largest insurer of people who have been shot. Other studies show that gun violence victims are more likely to have better outcomes in states with expanded Medicaid coverage. Members of households that fall below the federal poverty line — the same group insured by Medicaid — are four times more likely to be victims of fatal gun violence.
Ruth Zakarin, the CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence and a former trauma clinician, said the bill is a major step back for survivors and their families. “As a former Medicaid provider myself, because I was permitted to provide clinical services to the victims of violence through public funding, it feels as if we are backtracking all of the progress that we have made,” said Zakarin, noting the importance of services provided by hospital-based violence intervention programs and wraparound recovery care.
“For folks to be touched by violence and not be able to get the support that they need in the aftermath of trauma is just devastating to think about,” she said.
During President Joe Biden’s administration, important strides were made in understanding how federal healthcare and gun violence prevention efforts intersect, leading at least eight states to use Medicaid funds to support community violence intervention initiatives. The Biden White House also unveiled a plan that would allow state Medicaid agencies to reimburse providers that screened patients for firearm risk. Although the bill signed by Trump doesn’t directly affect community funding, the residual effects on the healthcare industry threaten the progress of recent years, health experts said, because of the significant financial loss to the American health system.
Source: Most Gun Violence Victims Have Medicaid. Trump’s Cuts Puts Them At Risk
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