New red tape could keep people from getting Obamacare

The Trump administration is ratcheting up its war on health care by imposing new restrictions on Affordable Care Act (ACA) eligibility.

Politico reported on June 20 that a new rule will shorten the program’s enrollment period by two weeks and require more paperwork from new applicants.

The rule will also eliminate federal subsidies for transgender care and block Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients from enrolling in the program altogether.

“With this rule, we’re lowering marketplace premiums, expanding coverage for families, and ensuring that illegal aliens do not receive taxpayer-funded health insurance,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a press release.

The administration claims the new rule will yield $12 billion in savings.

The ACA, also known as Obamacare, introduced several policies that make health insurance more affordable—including offering government subsidies to help people buy coverage, banning insurers from denying coverage due to preexisting conditions, and allowing states to expand Medicaid.

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans tried to repeal the ACA in 2017 but the effort failed by a single vote in the U.S. Senate. Since then, Trump has consistently tried to weaken the program by creating red tape and chipping away at its funding.

The new rule comes after the White House slashed funding for navigator groups—which help people sign up for Obamacare—by 90% in February. These same groups also help people enroll in Medicaid.

“We have seen this movie before: when he doesn’t get his way to fully repeal it, Donald Trump tries every which way to chip away at the Affordable Care Act and kick families off their health care, and sadly, it works,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) earlier this month.

The ACA is further threatened by a Republican budget bill that is now being debated in the House and Senate. The bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, does not renew expiring tax credits that help low- and middle-income Americans purchase ACA plans.

The bill also seeks to cut Medicaid funding by as much as $880 billion. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said these combined changes could result in 13.7 million Americans losing health insurance.

Polling consistently shows that Republicans’ anti-ACA stance is out of step with most voters. A tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) said in June 2025 that 66% of all adults have a favorable view of the program.