Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Friday evening that “skyrocketing health care costs” are forcing Americans to skip doctor visits and ration their medications. He tied the trend directly to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans. The post on X came hours after a national news report documented patients forgoing care because of cost.
Schumer’s full post, published at 6:29 p.m. on Oct. 23, 2026, read:
This is life under Donald Trump and Republicans:
Skyrocketing health care costs are forcing Americans to skip doctor visits and ration their medications, while millions more are losing coverage.
The post responds to a Washington Post article published Oct. 23 under the headline “Rising health care costs are pushing people to forgo medicine and doctor visits.” The article draws on reporting by KFF Health News, which this year has heard from more than 130 people across the country struggling to afford premiums, co-payments, prescriptions and medical bills.
The report profiles patients who describe delaying or going without care. Bill McAdams, a 45-year-old travel nurse from Florida, was uninsured when he had a stroke and was billed $93,000. Sheila Robinson, 61, of Maryland, has a $10,000 deductible and said she is afraid to go to the doctor. Melody Stephens, 55, of Arkansas, became uninsured after her premiums jumped from just over $200 to more than $2,000 a month, and she stopped taking a diabetes medication because of the cost.
The article also supplies the national figures behind Schumer’s claims. Overall health spending reached nearly $5.3 trillion in 2024 and is projected to hit 20 percent of GDP by 2032. About 27 million people under 65 were uninsured in 2024. The Congressional Budget Office projects that number will grow by 10 million or more by 2034. The article cites a projection of future growth rather than a current-year count of people who have lost coverage.
The article attributes rising costs to several factors, not one. They include hospital mergers that increase market power, high-priced new therapies such as GLP-1 drugs, inflation, and tariffs layered onto medical supplies. It also reports that the GOP-led Congress declined to extend pandemic-era ACA subsidies and cut billions from other federal health programs to offset tax cuts and immigration enforcement, arguing that government insurance programs are rife with fraud and waste.
Schumer’s record on the ACA subsidy fight
In September 2025, Schumer said he and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries were united in opposing any government funding legislation that did not include key health care provisions and a commitment not to roll them back.
As the resulting shutdown dragged on, Reuters reported that the Senate rejected a stopgap funding bill for the 13th time as Democrats insisted Republicans extend the expiring ACA tax credits, and Schumer said the 28-day shutdown could stretch into November.
On Nov. 7, 2025, Schumer proposed ending the shutdown by funding the government, extending the tax credits for one year and beginning bipartisan talks on long-term affordability, calling that path “simple and achievable”. Republicans had refused to negotiate over the credits until the government reopened.
The shutdown ended days later without that extension. Eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus joined Republicans on a deal that funded the government and promised a vote on the ACA tax credits. Schumer and most of his leadership team voted against it, and Schumer said Democrats had gained ground on health care.
The promised vote came in December 2025. The Senate rejected legislation to extend the tax credits. Before the vote, Schumer told Republicans it was the last chance to act before premiums rose, saying, “Let’s avert a disaster.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Democratic proposal would mask the real impact of rising ACA costs.
Where the issue stands heading into the midterms
Republicans have a different account of the problem. They used the looming expiration of the subsidies to renew longstanding criticisms of the ACA. The Post article reports that the GOP has prioritized tax and spending cuts to root out what it describes as pervasive fraud in government health programs.
Ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, the Post reports that health care costs top the public’s affordability worries in polling conducted by KFF in mid-September. About nine in 10 Democratic respondents and three-quarters of Republican respondents said the U.S. health care system needs a complete overhaul or major changes. The report also says insurers expect to raise ACA marketplace premiums by 15 percent next year.