This week at Unbreaking, August 7
This week, we’re looking at how federal layoffs are showing up in the jobs data; a new analysis of the massive cuts to Medicaid; pushback in response to the trans healthcare bans; and the ongoing uncertainty in medical research funding. More, below.
Equality at Work
Last week’s jobs report dominated the news, and for good reason: driven by cuts in the federal government, job losses this year are the highest since 2020. Black workers have been especially hit hard, with the unemployment rate for Black women rising to 6.3% and the rate for Black Americans overall up to 7.2%. Meanwhile, an appeals court permitted the administration to proceed with cancelling collective bargaining agreements for thousands of federal employees, making ongoing employment in the government more precarious.
Read our summary of how the administration is gutting the federal workforce in our explainer.
Medicaid
Work requirements are the largest single source of Medicaid cuts in the budget reconciliation bill, accounting for nearly a third of the trillion-dollar funding reduction on the insurance program for low-income Americans. The requirements are more stringent than past state and federal attempts to tie Medicaid eligibility to employment, a new KFF analysis shows.
Learn more about all the cuts and who they’ll affect in our Medicaid explainer.
Transgender Healthcare
Last week, a coalition of 17 states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its efforts to destroy access to gender-affirming care for youth. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the suit, wrote that Trump’s executive orders and the subsequent actions taken by the DOJ “have no legal basis and are intended to discourage providers from offering lifesaving healthcare that is lawful under state law.”
And while about two dozen hospitals and clinics have cut back on gender-affirming care in response to the administration’s threats, not everybody in medicine is willing to comply in advance. Native American leaders have united in support of access to healthcare, Boston Children’s Hospital issued a statement saying it would not be pressured into cutting gender-affirming care, and doctors in Illinois are organizing a rapid response network of providers who can help connect patients who might have lost care recently to doctors who are willing to provide it.
Catch up on the full story in our Transgender Healthcare explainer.
Medical Research Funding
On the heels of a $200 million settlement by Columbia University to restore federal funding, Brown University has agreed to a $50 million settlement, and a $100 million settlement by Cornell appears imminent. Duke and UCLA are also in talks with the administration. Harvard has been reported to be negotiating a $500 million deal; this is disputed by Harvard’s president. Even when funding has been ostensibly restored, many researchers struggle with uncertainty and cannot reliably plan long-term trials or hire staff.
The administration had proposed to cut the 2026 NIH budget by $18 billion, but the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an increase of $400 million. The committee also rejected the new agency proposed by RFK Jr., known as the Administration for a Healthy America. Additionally, the US Government Accountability Office, an independent congressional watchdog, concluded that the NIH’s withholding of grant funding is illegal.
Continue reading about countermoves in our Medical Research Funding explainer.
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