SCARE TACTIC?: Experts claim Trump’s budget bill will harm ‘mainstay’ of the job market

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From NBC News: Proposed cuts to health insurance programs in the budget bill being pushed through Congress by President Donald Trump could put hundreds of thousands of health care jobs at risk — jeopardizing one of the few notably strong areas of the U.S. job market.

Congressional Republicans are advancing a budget plan that would cause nearly 8 million people on Medicaid to lose their health insurance coverage, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, with an additional 2 million people to lose coverage through the Affordable Care Act if Congress remains on track to let health insurance tax subsidies expire at the end of the year.

Less funding for Medicaid and fewer people with health insurance would mean a drop-off in doctor’s office visits, prescription refills and medical procedures — and, as a result, fewer workers needed to support those types of services. It could lead to the loss of nearly 500,000 health care jobs over the next decade, according to an analysis by George Washington University and the Commonwealth Fund. The expiration of the ACA tax subsidies, which were enacted in 2021, would result in the loss of an additional 140,000 jobs, a separate analysis from George Washington University found.

Leighton Ku, director for the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University, had a bleak outlook on the health care market.

“Hospitals will close, health centers will close, pharmacies in some parts of the country will close because they will lose revenue,” he said.

“There are going to be job losses, and we’re talking about middle class jobs being lost,” Ku, who worked on the analyses, added.

Healthcare accounted for nearly half of US jobs added in May and half of the 2.2 million jobs added in 2022.

Allison Shrivastava, an economist with job listing site Indeed.com, confirmed that health care is a major player in the job market.

“Right now, a lot of what is driving these positive headline numbers and bolstering the labor market is the health care sector,” she said “It’s something that has been a constant. The health care sector has been a pretty big mainstay as the rest of the labor market has cooled.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson says the bill will be “jet fuel” for the economy.

“The One Big Beautiful Bill will be JET FUEL for the U.S. economy.

– Prevents the largest tax increase in U.S. history
– Secures our border
– Strengthens our military
– Slashes burdensome regulations

“Let’s get it done,” he wrote on X.

READ MORE AT NBCNews.com.


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