CONGRESS PASSES TRUMP’S “BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL,” HERE’S HOW IT WILL IMPACT VETERANS
With a final tally of 218 for it and 214 opposed, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (often referred to as the Big Beautiful Bill, President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, the OBBBA, or the OBBB) passed its final vote in the House of Representatives on the afternoon of Thursday, July 3rd.
With the President expected to sign it in the next day or so, its imminent enactment will lead to sweeping changes across the country. Pretty much every major media outlet has spent a lot of ink and airtime dissecting the various ins, out, and likely effects of the OBBBA. But few have focused on the ways the bill could potentially impact Veterans.
While many of the bill’s provisions and budget allocations will affect millions of Americans from all walks of life and backgrounds, there are some ways that it will specifically affect those who served in the military. So, with the bill on its way to becoming the law of the land, it’s worth highlighting the specific ways President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will directly affect Veterans and their families.
The Elimination of SNAP Work Exemptions
The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, also sometimes referred to as “food stamps”) and the earlier government initiatives/programs that preceded it have provided the means for our nation’s poorest people to stay fed since 1961.
As of last month, over 42 million Americans across over 22 million households rely on SNAP to feed themselves and their loved ones. Current eligibility requirements require not only that an individual or household make below a certain amount of money, but that anyone between the ages of 16 and 59 must work at least 30 hours per week.
Certain people are exempted from that requirement, such as those in drug treatment, the disabled, those caring for a child under age 6, and Veterans.
The OBBBA, however, is expected to remove many of those exemptions, including the one for Veterans. According to estimates based on census data, roughly 8% of Veterans rely on SNAP to meet their food needs.
If all of them wind up losing their access to the program as a result of the Big Beautiful Bill’s passage, over 1.4 million Americans who served their country would quickly find themselves struggling to put food on their tables.
While it’s unlikely all would lose access (some would still, for example, meet the work requirements or fall into one of the remaining exemption categories), large numbers of impoverished Veterans will almost certainly go hungry when SNAP’s exemption rules narrow.
Reduction in Medicaid Spending
While many people assume that the VA takes care of the medical needs of all Veterans, we Vets and our families know that is very far from the truth. In fact, only about 9 million Veterans (about half the population of vets in the US) are even enrolled in VA Healthcare. And many of those rely to some degree on outside insurance to cover some of their medical needs as well, including Medicaid, the federal program that provides health insurance to low-income people and families.
According to some 2023 estimates, roughly 10% of all Veterans were enrolled in Medicaid including 5% of VA enrollees. That means that nearly two million people who served in the military relied partially or entirely on the program for health coverage.
Despite assertions by its proponents to the contrary, The Big Beautiful Bill will cut nearly a trillion dollars out of Medicaid over the next decade, which could result in as many as 12 million Americans losing Medicaid coverage. And, there’s no telling how many Veterans on Medicaid could be among those who lose their coverage.
Additionally, without those Medicaid dollars paying for patient care, hospitals and other medical facilities (particularly those in impoverished areas) will face steep declines in the amount of money they have to operate. Which, in turn, would lead to downsizings, reductions in staff and services, and possibly even closures of installations, thus limiting healthcare access for both insured and uninsured people (Veterans included) in those areas.
What Effects Could the OBBBA Have?
While Veterans are far from the only subset of Americans who will be affected by the passage of President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, those effects will be wide-ranging and severe.
Many of the poorest former servicemembers and their families will face even greater struggles to stay healthy.
Without easy, affordable access to medical care and/or sufficient food, many Vets are certain to face the dire consequences of the cuts to the social safety net caused by the OBBBA.
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