Read more from The Alligator's "Ripple Effects" special section here.
Health care in America is facing a crisis of affordability and access, driven by a series of aggressive policy decisions that disproportionately harm the nation's most vulnerable groups.
The Trump administration's legislative agenda, often framed as fiscal prudence, is instead dismantling the safety nets and informational infrastructure that millions rely on, demonstrating a clear prioritization of political ideology over public health. This shift is creating a dangerous vortex of rising costs, reduced benefits and restricted information that severely impacts minority communities and the LGBTQ+ population.
The most immediate threat to health care affordability is the soaring cost of insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. The average premium on the federal health care platform is projected to see a 30% average price increase for 2026. This is primarily driven by the scheduled expiration of the ACA's enhanced premium tax credits at the end of 2025.
Without these crucial subsidies, millions of Americans, particularly those in low- and middle-income brackets, face a substantial financial cliff, with some households potentially seeing their net premiums more than double. This financial exclusion disproportionately affects minority and low-income families, who have seen the greatest gains in coverage through the ACA and are now faced with an untenable choice between essential coverage and other necessities.
Beyond the ACA, the Trump administration is moving forward with the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which includes massive cuts and restrictions to essential programs. The act includes over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the ACA over the next decade, a measure the Congressional Budget Office estimates could cause up to 11.8 million Americans to lose health insurance coverage.
New administrative hurdles, such as a mandatory 80-hours-a-month work requirement for Medicaid access, are expected to dramatically reduce enrollment. These requirements unfairly target and disenroll vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ+ adults and people of color, who already rely on Medicaid at higher rates.
Simultaneously, the legislation targets essential medical care. Provisions have sought to prohibit federal funding for gender-affirming care under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, effective as early as 2027. For the transgender community — especially transgender individuals of color who often rely on Medicaid — this represents a direct denial of medically necessary care.
Gender-affirming care, which includes hormone therapy and surgeries, is recognized by major medical associations as a life-saving treatment that improves mental health and reduces suicide risk. Cutting this care is not merely a budgetary measure — it is a profound act of discrimination codified into federal policy.
Compounding the financial and legislative assaults is the reported erosion of public health resources at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Changes to the agency's websites are leading to the removal or minimization of crucial, targeted data and guidance for specific vulnerable populations, including information on LGBTQ+ health disparities and detailed health equity data for racial and ethnic minorities.
By altering or obscuring this evidence-based information, the ability of local health departments and community organizations to track disparities and implement effective, culturally competent interventions is severely compromised, further widening the existing health equity gap and endangering the communities most in need of focused support. The overall result is a deliberate, sustained effort that undermines the nation's health security, prioritizing political agendas over the well-being of its most vulnerable citizens.
Sonaiya Brown is a 19-year-old UF biology sophomore.
Sonaiya Brown is a freshman photographer for Summer 2025. In her free time, she enjoys sleeping, listening to music, and most importantly, talking to her senior puppies a lot.
