Trump's new budget ignores dying Americans and gives away record sums to the US military

[babylonsister]

Trump’s new budget ignores dying Americans and gives away record sums to the US military
Eduardo Porter
President’s proposed budget slashes health department by 12% while throwing $1.5tn – a 42% increase – to the military
Sun 12 Apr 2026 07.00 EDT


Americans are dying in droves. Deaths due to avoidable causes in the United States –which could be dealt with via prevention or proper healthcare – far outpace those in most of country’s peers in the industrialized world. Most notably, Americans die of treatable conditions at nearly twice the rate as Spaniards, French, Japanese and Australians.

They would most likely live longer if they enjoyed better access to healthcare. Americans are the most likely to skip a doctor’s appointment due to its cost, the most likely to skip a medical test and to skimp on prescription drugs. This is unsurprising, given the extraordinary lack of public health insurance in the United States. Americans face the highest out-of-pocket expenses for medical services in their peer group.

If the budget for 2027 the White House proposed last week is anything to go by, healthcare is not the government’s problem: the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could see its budget cut by over $15bn, 12% less compared with this year.

The cut comes on top of the evisceration of the healthcare budget last year, when the president’s “big, beautiful bill” (BBB) cut more than $1tn over 10 years from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, largely by imposing onerous work requirements on Medicaid that will push 15 million Americans to lose health insurance, according to some analysts.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/12/trump-budget-healthcare-military