1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill on July 4th of last year. The main event was the tax cuts, more than four trillion dollars over ten years, and the biggest share went to the wealthiest Americans. To pay for it, Republicans made cuts to Medicaid, health care subsidies, and food assistance programs. The tax cuts took effect right away. But the program cuts were scheduled to phase in later, at the end of 2026 and into 2027. You don’t need to be a political genius to see why. Republicans wanted the tax cuts in people’s pockets before November and everything else to land after. But it didn’t work. The New York Times reports the pain is arriving early. Food stamp work requirements are kicking in and people are being dropped. Health insurance premiums went up for millions when the subsidies expired. Work requirements for Medicaid start in January, with states allowed to start early. And some have. The people feeling this are not who you’d expect. Much of the pain lands in rural counties and small towns, places that voted for Trump by big margins. Hospitals there are cutting beds and staff because they’re losing Medicaid patients. We covered a rural hospital in Missouri two weeks ago that cut its maternity ward in half. And this is just the start. More restrictions on food assistance and Medicaid hit October 1st, a week from today. So the number of people feeling this is going to keep growing right up until Election Day, and Republicans don’t have a way to stop it now.