On July 4, Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law. The 900+ page bill increases tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations while reducing healthcare and food assistance spending. Our guest today, Liz Pancotti points out a number of other, overlooked line-items in the bill, like the $325 million direct handout to Elon Musk and the elimination of a tax on firearms. She joins host Allen Ruff to talk about her recent article for Rolling Stone, “Trump’s Big Bill Will Make Americans Uninsured Again.”

What has been truly shocking to many is the fact that the bill will lead to tens of millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage. Pancotti says that there are two ways the bill does this; first by putting in place a work requirement for Medicaid recipients. This will affect roughly 10 million Americans, including 260,000 Wisconsinites who will lose Badger Care. The second way the bill makes cuts to healthcare is by raising premium costs for people on Affordable Care Act plans. 4.2 million Americans could become uninsured by 2024 as rates rise to unaffordable levels. On top of that, it’s likely that more than 350 hospitals and nearly 600 nursing homes will close, and this will disproportionately impact rural communities. 

They also discuss the irony that Trump was voted into office on the promise of ending inflation, but Pancotti says this bill is a “betrayal of Trump’s promise to lower costs.” Pancotti compares this bill to actions Trump took during his first term in office, analyzes how this bill will have macroeconomic effects, and explains how it will drive folks seeking student loans to the private market. Though many families will feel the impact of this bill immediately, some parts of the bill have staggered timelines to be implemented over a number of years, leaving room for the possibility to reverse course. 

Elizabeth Pancotti is the Managing Director of Policy and Advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a Washington-based non-profit think tank and progressive advocacy group specializing in research, analysis, and media commentary on economic issues. She was previously the Director of Special Initiatives at the Roosevelt Institute, where she led the think tank’s work on tax policy. Prior to Roosevelt, she was an advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), serving as the Labor Policy Director of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and as a senior budget analyst on the Senate Budget Committee. During her time in the Senate, she led efforts to compel Howard Shultz to testify about union-busting at Starbucks and secure paid sick leave for rail workers and played a key role in industrial policy investments passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Featured image of a stamp on a $20 bill that says “Donald Trump Lives Here” via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). 

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