A new Gallup poll found that 61% of Americans surveyed worry about the availability and affordability of health care, a concern 10 percentage points higher than worries about economy, inflation, or the federal budget deficit. Despite this public concern, Republicans in Congress are considering additional cuts to federal health spending on programs such as Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
The share of people paying more than $500 a month for ACA coverage doubled from last year to 2026. House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington has been pushing for still more health spending cuts, potentially to help fund a $200 billion war supplemental. He has discussed targeting what he calls fraud in mandatory programs like Medicare and Medicaid, as well as funding cost-sharing reductions—a policy that experts warn would raise premiums for many marketplace insurance buyers. President Donald Trump has proposed another sizable reduction in funding to the National Institutes of Health in his budget, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated there may not be much room for other priorities in an anticipated budget reconciliation bill.
The Supreme Court struck down a Colorado law that prohibited licensed mental health professionals from practicing conversion therapy on LGBTQ+ minors, ruling that such therapy constitutes protected speech. States have long had the power to regulate medical care to restrict treatments deemed harmful. The Idaho Legislature passed a bill requiring teachers and doctors to out transgender minors to their parents, with parents able to sue providers who facilitate social transformation of minors, including use of pronouns or titles not aligned with sex at birth.
HHS is studying whether to make private Medicare Advantage plans the default for seniors enrolling in Medicare, a change that could conflict with the Trump administration’s existing scrutiny of overpayments to private insurance plans. Meanwhile, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing to learn more about a pilot program using artificial intelligence to oversee prior authorization requests in traditional Medicare fee-for-service.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/podcast/what-the-health-440-gop-health-cuts-iran-april-2-2026/