Blog Post

Republican Leadership Is Plotting to Carry Out Dangerous Project 2025 Plans: Robbing Us of Our Health Care for Their Billionaire Friends

There’s a robbery underway, and we’re sounding the alarm. 

Republican leaders are trying to further enrich their billionaire donors and giant corporations by passing new tax breaks, paid for by raiding Medicaid funds and slashing programs that help families afford food, child care, and more. Instead of closing tax loopholes, ensuring that billionaires and giant corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and investing in services that support families across our nation, Republican leadership—in-line with their Project 2025 agenda—wants to completely devastate Medicaid, ripping health care away from millions and harming  workers and families with low incomes. All to benefit the ultrawealthy (and themselves).  

This is Robin Hood in reverse: Republican leadership wants to take health care from people typically making less than $22,000 a year or families with a combined annual income of less than $45,000 (the respective Medicaid financial eligibility thresholds for a family of one and a family of four) to give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.   

Let’s spell out the differences between these two groups a little more. Someone making $22,000 per year (or a little less than $11/hour, full-time) can barely afford fair market rent for a one-bedroom apartment most states, and can’t afford fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in any state in the country. In contrast, someone with a million dollars in annual income could buy at least two new homes at the median new home price of $419,000 every year! It’s bad enough that we’re taking health care away from folks struggling to afford basic necessities to give more tax cuts to millionaires, but how about those billionaires?  

It’s hard to even imagine why a household with a net worth of a billion dollars, the equivalent of pocketing $1 million per year for 1,000 years — needs more tax cuts. Finally, since we’re talking astronomical numbers, how about 2 TRILLION DOLLARS — this is the extreme wealth hoarded by just 12 billionaires in the United States.  

This is plain old wrong, and contrary to our values as a country. We must protect Medicaid.  

Medicaid Is Critical for Women and Families  

For over 80 million people, Medicaid is the reason why they can access doctors, treatments, and medications. Medicaid is a lifeline for families with low income, providing our families, friends, and neighbors with access to health care without putting them into debt or bankruptcy.  

Medicaid is also crucial for women’s health throughout their entire lifetimes. Women are the majority of adult Medicaid enrollees. Nearly one in five adult women in the United States receive vital services through Medicaid, such as wellness exams, reproductive health care, preventive screenings for cancer, or other physician and hospital services. For example, Medicaid covers 41% of all births in the United States. Medicaid is also critical in caring for aging and elderly family members. Medicaid coverage is the reason why millions of older and disabled women are able to afford long-term care. Nearly 60% of Medicaid enrollees ages 65 and older are women, and Medicaid covers 63% of all nursing home residents. In addition, Medicaid provides coverage for around 1.2 million LGBTQI+ individuals, being the primary source of coverage transgender people with disabilities.  

Billionaires Should Not Rob Women With Low Incomes, Like Direct Care Workers, of Health Care 

 Eight hundred eighty billion dollars in cuts to Medicaid to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations would mean ripping away coverage and care from millions of women and families who have low-incomes and depend on Medicaid to stay or get healthy, keep their jobs, and avoid medical debt.  

Let’s take the fictional example of Annie:  

Annie is 30 years old, works as a personal care aide, and makes $16 per hour or about $33,000 a year. She has twin boys, who are 3 years old, and Annie pays the kind woman next door to take care of them during the day. Annie does not have access to employer-sponsored health insurance, but luckily she lives in a state with Medicaid Expansion which provides Medicaid coverage for those making up to 138% of the federal poverty level ($36,777 for a family of three in 2025). Annie and her family are enrolled in Medicaid, which helps Annie keep her job because she can afford doctor’s appointments to address health problems before they become more serious and because she receives assistance managing her chronic pain from a previous accident. Medicaid coverage of birth control also allows Annie to easily manage her family planning. Instead of spending all her limited income on health care costs, Annie is able to pay for housing, day care, food, and other daily necessities for her and her children. Especially since her twins are young and need regular check-ups, Medicaid keeps Annie’s family healthy and out of medical debt. 

While Annie is a made-up example, it is true that 31% direct care workers rely on Medicaid for health coverage. And there are millions of families like Annie’s, especially as Medicaid covers the poorest women. Over four in 10 living below the federal poverty level access care through Medicaid. Whether they are single or have a family, almost none of the millions of people who access Medicaid make more than 138% of the federal poverty level — less than $22,0000 a year for a single person or a combined household income of less than $36,777 a year for a family of three.   

On the other hand, the average tax break for a household in the top 1% is over $61,000 as result of the 2025 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (which Republican leadership is pushing to extend along with other tax breaks). It is grotesque that their tax break is greater than the annual incomes of families that rely on Medicaid for access to health care! And it’s even more absurd and unjust that extending these tax breaks for billionaires would devastate Medicaid funding, ripping away a lifeline from millions of workers like Annie and her family. 

The Ultrawealthy Do Not Need More Tax Breaks, but Families And Communities Need Medicaid 

Not only is Medicaid a critical program for enrollees, but even people who have not personally enrolled in Medicaid recognize its importance. Recent polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that:  

• Nearly all adults (97%) say that Medicaid is important for their local community, and a majority say it is important for their own family;  

• Across political party identification, 77% of people view Medicaid favorably.  

Instead of raiding Medicaid to pay for additional tax giveaways for billionaires and wealthy corporations, Republican leadership should take our tax policies in a different – and popular direction: raise taxes on the wealthiest and big corporations and use the revenues to invest in widely supported programs, like Medicaid, that support the well-being of everyday people and families, strengthen our workforce, and grow our economy.   

Women, families, and entire communities should not have to suffer to provide even more tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Protect Medicaid and stop the robbery.