To the editor:
President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law on July 4, 2025, saying at the time that it was “the biggest bill of its kind ever signed” and “it’s going to make this country into a rocket ship.” Well, the ship has a ticking time bomb in it.
It includes over one trillion dollars in cuts to medicaid, rural hospitals, and public health that are scheduled to start after the midterm elections. In the next ten years 16 million Americans are expected to lose their health coverage. Vermont can expect a decrease in federal funding of two billion dollars, with over eleven thousand people expected to lose their ACA coverage and over twenty thousand their Medicaid.
This will have knock-on effects, causing hospitals to close, reducing preventative care, leaving chronic conditions untreated, and resulting in a less healthy America and Vermont.
Republicans in congress are banking on us losing sight of the connection between a sicker and poorer population and the bill they passed, but we cannot afford to do that. Cuts to healthcare affect every family, every community, every business, and cuts to healthcare kill.
As the midterms approach we should be asking those who want our vote how they would work locally and regionally to address the shortfall that Trump and congressional republicans have dealt us.
Rachel Cole, Hardwick
