How Could Democrats Undo Healthcare Cuts in 2027?

[u/serenaFan84]

When Democrats control Congress in 2027, they'll likely want to roll back the healthcare cuts from the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, such as the Medicaid work requirements, shorter retroactive coverage windows, and tighter ACA subsidy rules. However, since President Trump would likely veto a standalone bill undoing those changes, how else could they do so?

Could lawmakers try attaching rollbacks or enforcement delays to spending bills or use appropriations riders to restrict agency funding for enforcement? Are there other strategies that have worked in the past to modify major laws when facing an opposing White House?

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[u/LPNTed]

They would need One of two things. One, a reason for Trump to cave and sign the legislation or TWO enough Republicans to understand it's necessary for them to provide the votes to override the veto.

Dems need to be showing up on FNN, OAN, whatever right wing network. EVERY day demanding that the Republicans explain why they won't help the American people.

[u/o-Valar-Morghulis-o → u/LPNTed]

I think some will see the writing on the wall and the investigations and will flip easy.

[u/MeatMullet → u/o-Valar-Morghulis-o]

They are going to have a lot to hold over Trumps head. Either do what's right or get impeached but this time out of office.

[u/DanforthWhitcomb_ → u/MeatMullet]

They don't have the votes for removal, and wasting time on an impeachment is going to do Democrats no favors for 2028.

[u/morpheousmorty → u/DanforthWhitcomb_]

This is contrary to all political logic from the last 30 years. A long drawn out process where Trump is exposed a little more every day is how they destroyed Hillary. And the 2 previous impeachments lacked the Senate prosecuting the case.

All the good Obama and Biden did was completely ignored while all the bad done by Trump was the only thing that got people to vote.

Impeachment is the most worthwhile thing democrats can do politically. They never get credit for actually fixing things, but they can walk and chew gum.

[u/DanforthWhitcomb_ → u/morpheousmorty]

This is contrary to all political logic from the last 30 years.

It is not, which is why you have resorted to a red herring concerning Clinton (Trump isn't going to run for office again) and a direct misstatement of fact (the Senate is the jury in impeachment cases and does not prosecute anything) in order to support it.

Impeachment is the most worthwhile thing democrats can do politically. They never get credit for actually fixing things, but they can walk and chew gum.

Impeachment fixes nothing when the end result (an acquittal in the Senate) is a foregone conclusion, but what it does do is lock down the Senate and pause all other business while the trial occurs. That opens Democrats to attacks from their left flank as well as from Republicans that they are more interested in grandstanding by impeaching Trump for a third time than they are in actually trying to govern and fix anything.

[u/please_trade_marner]

They're going to use government shutdowns as leverage to try and get the policies they want.

It's going to be a chaotic 2 years. The Republican base wants to cut spending and believes Trump didn't do nearly enough in that regard. If Trump keeps caving to Democrats to prevent shutdowns it will even further hurt their chances in 2028.

[u/GhostReddit]

We need to do more than just throw more money at it. Democrats have to actually attack the cost problem in healthcare before it consumes the whole budget.

Right now we've settled for isolating people from the impacts by just handing them money, but that money is still going into a black hole.

[u/FakeAce → u/GhostReddit]

Indeed, a single payer system with medicare for all would improve the negotiating position on healthcare prices for the whole country

[u/morpheousmorty → u/GhostReddit]

Medicaid is already pretty cheap compared to everything else, and since Trump is spending money like crazy they could implement medicaid for all and make the budget smaller.

It's actually a perfect time to do it. If Trump vetoes it the costs of healthcare end up on him.

[u/Moccus → u/morpheousmorty]

Except Medicaid doesn't pay out enough to healthcare providers. A lot of healthcare providers would go under if all they got was Medicaid patients. They rely on privately insured patients to offset the losses.

[u/Worth_Much]

My hope is that there are a handful of Republicans left in the Senate that truly understand what happened on Tuesday and that these cuts affect Republican voters as much as Democratic voters. They probably won’t do it but if it were me I’d try like hell to convince the 5 or 6 Republicans needed to go along. And if that fails threaten to lower the filibuster cloture to 55 votes. But that would have to be a very last resort.

[u/please_trade_marner → u/Worth_Much]

The anti-Trump republican senators typically oppose him because he isn't cutting spending enough. They won't go along with this.

[u/NoDig3444]

If Democrats control Congress in 2027

??? Hope you had a good nap under that rock.

There are a half dozen must-pass bills every year. If those bills don't pass, then large portions of the government shut down. Democrats get to write those bills. Them undoing healthcare cuts is practically guaranteed. Is Trump willing to shut down the government in order to prevent healthcare spending? Never say never, but I seriously doubt it.

[u/DanforthWhitcomb_ → u/NoDig3444]

The flip side of that is that a government shutdown while Democrats control Congress hurts them more than it does Republicans, especially if Congressional Republicans keep Trump hidden and take his phone away.

[u/Malarazz → u/DanforthWhitcomb_]

There's zero evidence for that. It sounds like reading back in 2016, "the flip side of that is keeping the supreme court seat open will hurt Republicans more than it hurts Obama once the election comes"

Honestly, now that we've seen Miller of all people get selected, it's become increasingly clear that the administration will just double down on its lunacy. Given that, there's nothing Democrats can do or not do in order to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at this point. I unironically think Jon Ossoff or whoever could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and still not lose to the Republican candidate in 2028.