Trump administration removes 750,000 from ACA marketplaces

Removals come weeks before midterm elections, follow Biden-era subsidy cuts

The Trump administration’s “fraud taskforce” removed more than 750,000 people from Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplaces on grounds that they were not entitled to federal subsidies, Vice President JD Vance announced, according to the Guardian. The administration estimates the action will save $2.2 billion annually.

The removals follow the administration’s cancellation of Biden-era ACA subsidies in 2025, a step the Guardian reported contributed to 3 million Americans dropping their health insurance coverage. Trump has also begun mailing $500 checks to nearly 1 million people, an initiative the administration describes as promoting healthcare “wins.” Trump has also pledged $5,000 payments to adult Americans if Republicans maintain control of Congress in the November midterm elections — a promise that, Porter wrote, “will go nowhere.”

Other administration actions in recent weeks have included offers to lower barriers against beef imports to limit meat prices — a step Trump considered reversing under pressure from the cattle industry — and an offer to stop diesel exports that oil companies declined, the Guardian reported. Trump also weakened fuel efficiency standards, claiming the change would reduce new-car prices; the Guardian noted the change is also expected to increase consumer spending on gasoline.

The fiscal backdrop against which the ACA removals occurred is one of growing federal deficits, according to the Guardian. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 is expected to add $4.1 trillion to federal budget deficits over the next decade, largely through tax cuts benefiting high-income Americans. The Guardian reported that the federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2026 is expected to rise to roughly $2 trillion, approximately 6% of GDP and about 18% more than in fiscal year 2024, the last year of the Biden administration. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had pledged to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP.

Eduardo Porter, a Guardian columnist writing in an analysis piece, framed the administration’s pre-midterm activity as marked by “a manic quality to Donald Trump’s desperate dash to do something, anything” ahead of November’s elections. Porter wrote that the new ACA “evictions” “suggest that his brain’s darker side is winning” and “underscore Trump’s belief that hitting poor people might work for him.” Trump, “deep underwater in the polls for his nutty stewardship of the economy, among other things,” seemed to see his “one remaining winning card” as “doing violence against constituencies that his base may not like” — “top of the list are immigrants and low-income people,” Porter wrote.

Porter also compared the ACA removals to the playbook of Elon Musk’s Doge, writing that Musk’s promise to rid the government of “waste” and “fraud” had “probably caused the deaths of millions of children in the developing world after the dismantling of USAID, but proved largely irrelevant to the task of saving money for the government.” Porter wrote that the effort “may serve as a masterclass in trolling” but was “not a vote-winner.”

The Guardian cited Pew Research Center surveys finding that about two-thirds of Republicans believe giving more aid to the poor does more harm than good, and that — despite repeated instances of abuse by federal agents — only 19% of Republicans think the Trump administration is doing too much to deport immigrants in the country illegally. “The most radical rightwing voters are all in for federal deportations and don’t think the federal government should be responsible for ensuring Americans’ healthcare,” Porter wrote. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it will hire an additional 5,000 agents by the end of the year.

The administration structured most of the Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cuts enacted in the 2025 legislation to take effect after the midterm elections, the Guardian reported, citing an approach designed to minimize political cost. Tax breaks for overtime and tips included in the legislation are designed to expire at the end of Trump’s term, according to the Guardian.