Sh*t Costs Too Much: Health Care
Over 8 million Americans lost coverage and ACA premiums spiked 114% after $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
Sh*t Costs Too Much.
Fact sheet · July 2026
8M+
Americans who lost coverage through Medicaid/CHIP or the ACA in the past year
114%
Premium spike for the 22 million who buy ACA coverage on their own
25%
Average health insurance premium increase for all Americans this year
Americans are paying more for everything these days — especially for health care costs. Premiums are through the roof, and co-pays for doctor visits and prescription drugs are only growing. Even as big drug companies are raking in record profits, health care just keeps getting pricier for everyone else; paychecks just aren’t keeping pace. For hundreds of millions of families, making ends meet has gone from hard to impossible, forcing many to make difficult decisions between keeping health insurance and putting food on the table.
Key points
- Over 8 million Americans have lost health care coverage through Medicaid/CHIP or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) over the past year.
- Health insurance premiums increased by an average of 25% for all Americans this year.
- 22 million people who buy insurance on their own through the ACA saw premiums skyrocket 114% this year.
- Fewer than half of Americans now say they can consistently afford health care, and 71% say that health care costs are unaffordable.
- Roughly 60% are worried about being able to afford prescription drugs and more than one in four Americans cannot afford to fill their prescriptions.
Core drivers
The federal government slashed over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA, raising costs and kicking millions off coverage
Last July, the federal government enacted sweeping legislation cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA in order to pay for tax cuts worth $1.7 trillion for billionaires and big corporations. In the year since this law was enacted, over 8 million Americans have already lost health care coverage through Medicaid/CHIP or the ACA and some 15 million are expected to become uninsured by 2034. Meanwhile, the ACA cuts triggered premium hikes that raised costs by 114% this year for 22 million people who buy insurance on their own through the ACA. Even people who receive health care coverage through their employers have seen premiums spike by double-digits in the wake of these massive health care cuts as health systems bear the massive burden of uncompensated care.
Every figure here is sourced and linked to public reporting, government data, and independent analysis.
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