Republicans in Congress and President Trump have passed a law that will take food and health care from hardworking people — like Amazon and Walmart associates — to pay for another tax cut for the ultra wealthy (like Jeff Bezos and the Waltons).

On July 4th, 2025, President Trump signed his Budget Blueprint — dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — into law. 

Under this law, an estimated 17 million Americans are expected to lose their health care to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. These coverage losses will result in higher out-of-pocket costs, more medical debt, and more evictions as families struggle to keep up with the cost of health care. Folks who cannot cover those costs will go without needed prescriptions and forego appointments, like prenatal care. 

Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the new budget law will affect all of the more than 40 million people — including 16 million kids — who currently receive basic food assistance. Food prices continue to rise, wages at Walmart and Amazon are effectively stagnant, and now this law is stealing food from kids to give the ultra rich a tax break. This is wrong.

We know there’s been a lot of misinformation swirling about this bill. So we’ve compiled a summary of some of the biggest impacts on health care, food assistance, and families’ costs — and the timeline for these cuts.

Note: Some cuts may be implemented sooner. Actual timelines will vary state by state. The timelines below outline the latest possible implementation under the law. You may be at risk of losing services sooner.

Medicaid: 

Medicaid provides health care coverage to people who can’t afford it. It covers nearly half of all kids and 60% of residents in nursing homes. But millions of working people could lose their health care coverage from new Medicaid requirements in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (Note: Your state may call Medicaid something else.)

These requirements just don’t work. They place the burden of proof on you and leave you to wrestle with the red tape. Working people — like Walmart and Amazon associates — have to rely on public assistance to make ends meet, working for poverty wages while being denied access to full time hours with benefits like health insurance. 

First, we are forced into the federal health care system by our employer’s greed, only to then risk losing eligibility because of the new hoops created by this new law. 

Maintaining access to health care shouldn’t be a job in and of itself.

Work Reporting Requirements: 

The law requires that able-bodied adults between ages 19 and 64 work (or volunteer, or something similar) for at least 80 hours a month. This will affect Medicaid recipients even if you are already working that much!

There are just two states that have done this before — and it hasn’t worked either time. In Arkansas, over 18,000 people lost health care and the employment rate didn’t go up. The program was sunsetted. It’s still active in Georgia, where it was estimated to cost more than $40 million in state and federal tax dollars in its first year. And nearly $4 out of every $5 went towards administration and consulting fees, not actual medical care.

Implementation Timeline: These requirements begin to go into effect Dec. 31. 2026. 

New Requirements to “Reprove” Medicaid Eligibility: 

Medicaid patients will need to file paperwork to reprove eligibility at least twice a year. 

Make no mistake: This is so that people forget or miss deadlines, and will result in eligible Medicaid recipients losing coverage.  

Implementation Timeline: These requirements go into effect January 1, 2027. 

 

Medicare:

Since 1965, Medicare has provided health care coverage to people over 65 — and 65 million people rely on the program. But the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could force millions off this program. 

Documented Immigrants Stripped of Coverage:

The bill eliminates Medicare eligibility for certain documented immigrants who have fully followed legal processes and worked here and paid taxes for decades. People affected include those with temporary protected status, refugees, and asylum seekers.

Implementation Timeline: These cuts will go into effect in January of 2027. 

Medicare Funding Cuts: 

This law triggers automatic cuts to Medicare funding, which ultimately amount to a $500 billion cut over eight years. Those cuts will include things like payments to hospitals, physicians and health care providers, Medicare Advantage plans, and standalone prescription drug plans.

Implementation Timeline: These cuts will begin in 2026, and escalate over time. 

 

Affordable Care Act:

For fifteen years, the ACA has given more than 40 million Americans access to health care. But the One Big Beautiful Bill Act puts that at risk. 

Increased Enrollment Hurdles: 

Currently, people already enrolled in an ACA plan are auto-renewed in a similar plan if they don’t re-enroll themselves. This ends under the new law, and enrollees will need to reapply each year. 

And, right now, if there’s a mismatch between information you provide and what exists in federal databases, you’re conditionally enrolled for a few months. This preserves your access to health care while the details are worked out. Under the new law, you’ll need to get verified before you’re enrolled which could disrupt or delay routine medical care. 

Implementation Timeline: These will start to apply January 1, 2028.

We’ll also get less time to enroll. While the enrollment window has usually stayed open until January 15th, it’ll cut off on December 15th instead. 

Implementation Timeline: The shorter enrollment window will go into effect in 2027. 

Restricting Coverage for Taxpaying Immigrants:

Right now, immigrants with incomes under 100% of the federal poverty level who have followed the legal process can get ACA coverage. The new law eliminates all subsidies for immigrants. 

Implementation Timeline: These subsidies end on January 1, 2026. 

It also completely eliminates health care coverage eligibility for a lot of refugees, asylum seekers, and people with Temporary Protected Status (with exemption for certain immigrants from Cuba and Haiti). 

Implementation Timeline: These folks will no longer be eligible for coverage beginning January 1, 2027.

Rising Costs: 

Monthly premiums under the Affordable Care Act are expected to sharply increase. The Republican Spending Plan didn’t extend subsidies that have been in place since 2021. These subsidies ensured people could afford ACA health plans by limiting costs to an amount relative to their income. Costs could go up by more than 75%. 

Implementation Timeline: These cost increases are projected to begin January 1, 2026.

SNAP

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes the biggest cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ever. 

Work Reporting Requirements: 

The law extends the three-month time limit for able-bodied adults who do not meet an 80 hour per month work requirement to people ages 55 through 64, parents of children aged 14 to 17, and veterans. It also restricts state waivers to areas with unemployment above 10 percent. Just like what we’ve seen with Medicaid work requirements, these programs don’t improve employment numbers. They just keep families from getting the help they need.

Implementation Timeline: States have to implement these requirements by December 31, 2026, but can also do it sooner.

Limiting SNAP’s Ability to Keep Up with Rising Food Costs:

The Thrifty Food Plan is how the federal government calculates our SNAP benefits. This law limits what the Thrifty Food Plan can consider to be just inflation. But because food prices can change rapidly, they’re not always factored into inflation measurements. Because of limits like this, the Congressional Budget Office found that this bill would cause every single SNAP participant to eventually lose $15 a month. 

Implementation Timeline: SNAP benefits will have less purchasing power every year for years to come. 

A Bigger Burden on States: 

State governments are going to have to pay 25 percent more of the administrative costs for SNAP. In addition, every state will also have to contribute a percentage of the cost of the actual benefits.

To cover these costs, states are likely to cut back on the assistance hungry families can get, narrow SNAP eligibility, or end food aid programs entirely. 

Implementation Timeline: States will have to supply this funding starting October 1, 2027. 

Making Lawful Residents Go Hungry:

SNAP has never been available to undocumented non-citizens. But the new law excludes many documented immigrants with humanitarian protections from receiving SNAP benefits. Many refugees, asylum seekers, and survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other crises will be left to go hungry. 

Implementation Timeline: There is no provision in the law delaying implementation, so these restrictions are expected to go into effect very soon.

The ultra rich have passed the buck to the American taxpayer for long enough — working families are subsidizing the poverty wages and lack of health insurance coverage at Walmart and Amazon. 

This new law makes it even harder for families to get by. Here’s how: 

  • Kicking about 2.6 million kids — who are U.S. citizens — off the Child Tax Credit because their caregiver doesn’t have a Social Security number.
  • Increasing out-of-pocket costs for many people on Medicaid by requiring states that have expanded Medicaid to charge enrollees up to $35 for services like a health care provider visit. This is activated if the person’s income falls between the federal poverty level ($15,650 in 2025) and 138% of it ($21,597 in 2025).

Making energy bills more expensive by rolling back programs that made clean energy more affordable. Household energy costs could increase by $280 a year as a result.

This new law steals our hard-earned money to pad the wealth of the richest people on the planet. Our Members of Congress need to know how this will affect their communities back home. 

Use our simple tool to share your story of how this bill will affect you and your family! Your voice will help us push our elected officials to protect working people.