ONE YEAR LATER: Ken Paxton Backed One Big Ugly Bill Has Spiked Healthcare Costs And Devastated Texas Rural Hospitals

Paxton repeatedly praised OBBBA, which ripped away Texans’ healthcare to fund lavish tax breaks for billionaires

AUSTIN, TX — As Texas approaches the one year anniversary of the One Big Ugly Bill this weekend, working families are paying the price for the devastating cuts Ken Paxton hailed as “incredible” with higher healthcare costs, rural hospitals closing, and more than a million Texans projected to lose their health insurance. 

Paxton praised the One Big Ugly Bill, which made the largest cut to healthcare in American history to give bigger tax handouts for billionaires and megacorporations, as “historic legislation.” One year later, Texans are living with the consequences as healthcare costs soar and families struggle to afford coverage because of the Paxton-backed cuts.

Texas Democratic Party Spokesperson Ryan Martin said:

“Over a million Texans are projected to lose their healthcare and more will see their monthly premiums double, or even triple because of the Big Ugly Bill that Ken Paxton supported to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires. Texans are sicker, rural hospitals are being pushed to the brink, and families can’t afford to go to the doctor because of Paxton-backed policies. Texans won’t forget that Paxton chose billionaires over their healthcare and will be holding him accountable in November.”

See for yourself the impacts of the devastating healthcare cuts Paxton supported:

• 1.7 million Texans are estimated to lose their health insurance because of Paxton-supported cuts in OBBBA and elimination of the ACA enhanced premium tax credits that families relied on to afford healthcare.  

  • Already, more than 193,000 Texans have lost Medicaid coverage since OBBBA was enacted.

• Texans’ average healthcare premiums are projected to spike 115% for those who relied on the ACA enhanced premium tax credits. 

  • KKF estimated the average monthly premium increase for a 60-year-old on a benchmark silver plan in Texas would increase by 216%, or nearly $959 more a month, after the expiration of ACA tax credits.

• Already two rural health care facilities in North Texas have closed, and 15 more rural hospitals in Texas are at risk because the Paxton-backed OBBBA slashed their funding. 

• Texas’ state Medicaid fund is estimated to be reduced by nearly $32.4 billion by 2034 under the OBBBA, meaning Texans will go uninsured and Texas hospitals that are already on shoestring budgets will be forced to absorb the costs.

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