07/13/2025
Do yourself a favor and read the bill, especially in areas that will affect your health and finances!
‘Big Beautiful Bill's' impact on Tennesseans insured through ACA
Estimates show between 68,000 to 170,000 people could lose access to their Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance plans because of changes to the program's funding
KFF, a nonprofit health policy organization, estimates that changes to funding of the Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance as part of Trump’s legislation will result in around 2% of Tennesseans, or 68,000 people, losing access to their federally subsidized insurance. This matches a similar estimate made by the U.S. House Democrats’ Joint Economic Committee, which predicts even more dire consequences of 170,000 losing coverage.
But for Medicaid, Tennessee will see fewer cuts to its version of the program, called TennCare. Tennessee is one of 10 states that didn’t expand the program to provide insurance to more people living on near-poverty-line wages.
Nearly 300,000 more Tennesseeans would have had access to Medicaid if the lawmakers had expanded the coverage allowed under the Affordable Care Act, according to the Tennessee Justice Center. The results of having fewer people covered mean fewer will lose coverage.
Tennesseans will lose approximately 20% of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. In 2022, nearly 700,000 Tennesseans received around $1.4 billion in SNAP funds, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. About half of those in Tennessee who qualify for the federal assistance are children.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in Tennessee
Work requirements in the 'Big Beautiful Bill' are projected to reduce SNAP benefits by 20% or about $250-$300 million for Tennesseans
Tennesseans could receive around $7 billion in income tax cuts in 2026 as part of Trump’s legislation, according to an analysis compiled by The Lookout using U.S. Census household income data and estimates from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
In dollar terms, most of the tax cuts will benefit the wealthiest households in Tennessee.
