Gun violence victims are among those put at greatest risk by Donald Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, health officials say.
The Trace reports that Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ which was signed into law last month, will have compounding effects on the healthcare sector, violence prevention, and mental health services—especially for the people most affected by gun violence.
Research has found that, since the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid is the single largest insurer of people who have been shot. Other studies show that gun violence victims are more likely to have better outcomes in states with expanded Medicaid coverage. Members of households that fall below the federal poverty line — the same group insured by Medicaid—are four times more likely to be victims of fatal gun violence.
“In these last several years, the healthcare initiatives aimed at gun violence reduction are working and driving down rates of gun violence across the country in historic ways,” Dr. Kyle Fischer, the policy director for the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, told The Trace. “By cutting health funding, we’re ultimately moving backwards.”
