Overview: Voter backlash over deep federal cuts to Medicaid, SNAP food benefits, and Affordable Care Act subsidies propelled Democrats back into power across both congressional chambers in the midterm elections. With the Congressional Budget Office projecting ten million additional uninsured Americans by 2034 under recent policy rollbacks, public health leaders, maternal care advocates, and civil rights organizations are demanding immediate legislative repair work. Key priorities include restoring premium tax credits, protecting vital equity initiatives like Healthy Start, launching oversight hearings, and pursuing the impeachment of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Advocates urge the new Democratic Congress to roll back Medicaid cuts, restore ACA subsidies, and hold HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accountable.
With millions projected to lose health insurance in 2027 advocates press newly elected officials to undo last year’s Medicaid and food-aid cuts, conduct oversight hearings and impeach HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 05: U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an event at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Credit: Finn Gomez / Getty Images
Voter anger over healthcare program rollbacks helped Democrats win both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, ending the Republican majorities that enacted last year’s cuts to federal Medicaid and food assistance programs.
As of this writing, Democrats have an eight-seat majority in the U.S. Senate, with races in Alaska and Mississippi still too close to call. In the House of Representatives, Democrats have a 92-seat majority but ballots in 21 races are still being counted.
Because healthcare was a major issue for voters, many say the election’s outcome is a clarion call to overturn the Trump administration’s Draconian policies and cutbacks in a wide range of family health-related programs and to restore health coverage to millions of Americans.
Healthcare Cliff Will Affect Millions
The Congressional Budget Office projects that the budget law called the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” will leave 10 million more people uninsured by 2034. While 1.3 million people have lost their health coverage this year, most losses are still to come — 5.2 million more to become uninsured in 2027 and 6.8 million in 2028, according to estimates.
It’s also likely that more people will lose their health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The CBO estimates that ACA enrollment will plummet from a peak of 22.4 million people in 2025 to 13.1 million next year.
Because of the Trump administration cuts to ACA subsidies, enrollees saw their premium payments increase by an average of 58%. Roughly 9% of people who had coverage under the ACA marketplace in 2025 lost coverage this year, and 17% of returning enrollees surveyed this summer weren’t confident they could afford premiums for all of this year.
Family advocates want the new Democratic majorities in Congress to respond and take action to repair the damage.
“Families and caregivers have suffered at the hands of this administration for the past two years, dealing with the rising cost of raising a family, dwindling access to quality childcare and failing maternal health care. We need our new leaders in Congress to stand ready to listen and support us,” said Danielle Atkinson, founder and executive director of Mothering Justice, a multi-state organization focused on economic, racial and gender justice for mothers and caregivers of color.
“At a time when Black mothers continue to face disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality, [U.S. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] and the Department of Health and Human Services should be strengthening evidence-based care — not dismantling the programs and services families depend on,” Atkinson continued. “Instead, this administration is rolling back targeted health equity initiatives, weakening efforts to identify and address systemic racial disparities and advancing proposals to eliminate funding for community-based maternal healthcare programs like Healthy Start and Title X,” Atkinson pointed out.
Food aid is shrinking, too. More than 5 million people already have lost vital SNAP benefits, and new cuts and work requirements are expected to affect most of the roughly 42 million people who rely on food stamps each month. Yet the administration is still pushing its Make America Healthy Again agenda.
#HealthEquity #BlackMaternalHealth #ProtectOurCare
