¶ Overview
In October 2025, Jonathan Bush praised the Trump administration’s health care policies and expressed enthusiasm for its approach, even as warnings mounted that Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” would lead to major coverage losses and widespread disruption to Medicaid. Experts found that Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and the expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits would result in 33,000 Mainers becoming uninsured by 2034. The bill was projected to leave more than 57,300 Mainers without health care coverage overall, including 22,700 ACA enrollees and nearly 34,700 Medicaid recipients, reversing gains made under the Affordable Care Act that dramatically lowered the uninsured rate among low-income workers.
Bush explicitly supported converting Medicaid into block grants, called expanded Medicaid a “crazy and terrible idea,” and urged officials to “roll people back.” Bush also called the Affordable Care Act a “wealth redistribution mechanism,” and further claimed federal health programs were “jamming everybody’s nose in the same puppy poop.” In 2026, more than 58,500 Mainers were enrolled in Affordable Care Act Marketplace health insurance plans.
In 2026, Jonathan Bush opposed expanding MaineCare and said the program was “not a safety net” but a “Barcalounger,” despite 400,000 Mainers, including more than half of Maine’s children, relying on it. He also claimed Democratic proposals for state-run health care plans would leave people “controlled.”
¶ Jonathan Bush Praised Trump’s Health Care Policies That Threatened Coverage For Millions Of Americans Who Relied On Medicaid
¶ Jonathan Bush Praised Trump Health Care Policies That Put Medicaid Coverage For Millions Of Americans At Risk
¶ October 2025: Jonathan Bush Praised The Trump Administration’s Health Care Policies, Even As Experts Warned 17 Million Americans Could Lose Health Care Coverage And Rural Hospitals Were At Risk Of Closure Due To Trump’s Tax Legislation
October 2025: Jonathan Bush Expressed Enthusiasm For The Trump Administration’s Health Care Policies. According to Bush at the Maine GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Forum, “This is Trump-aligned policy? That’s the question? Yeah, I've got so much that I'm excited about with this administration, particularly in the area of health care.” [Jonathan Bush – Maine GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Forum, 10/18/25] (VIDEO)
- HEADLINE: "At Least 17 Million Americans Would Lose Insurance Under Trump Plan" [Washington Post, 7/1/25]
- HEADLINE: “By The Numbers: Harmful Republican Megabill Favors The Wealthy And Leaves Millions Of Working Families Behind” [Center On Budget And Policy Priorities, 8/1/25]
- The Congressional Budget Office Estimated That 11.8 Million People Would Become Uninsured As A Result Of The Medicaid Cuts In Republicans’ Reconciliation Bill. According to the Washington Post, "The bill, which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday and now heads back to the House, would effectively accomplish what Republicans have long failed to do: unwind many of the key components of the ACA, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, which dramatically increased the number of Americans with access to health insurance. To start, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate version of the bill would result in 11.8 million more uninsured in 2034, mostly because of Medicaid cuts, compared with 10.9 million if the House version became law." [Washington Post, 7/1/25]
- Center For American Progress: The Bill’s $50 Billion In Rural Hospital Relief Funding Would Not Come Close To The Gap Created By Medicaid Cuts, With 300 Rural Hospitals At “Immediate Risk” Of Closure. According to the Center For American Progress, “The OBBBA includes $50 billion in relief funding for rural hospitals over a five-year period to help reduce the disastrous impacts of the bill’s roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. As of May 2025, there were approximately 2,086 rural hospitals receiving $12.2 billion a year in net revenue from Medicaid. At the median, rural hospitals’ revenue from Medicaid is $3.9 million a year. Rural hospitals have some of the lowest operating margins in the nation, especially compared with urban hospitals, meaning that any reductions in revenue could lead to closures. The average operating margin for rural hospitals was 3.1 percent in 2023, with 44 percent of rural hospitals operating with negative margins. As a result, more than 300 rural hospitals are currently at ‘immediate risk’ of closure, especially now that the OBBBA is projected to cut Medicaid spending by $1.02 trillion. The relief fund designed to blunt the negative impacts caused by the bill would not come close to filling that gap. If every rural hospital in the country received an even share of the $50 billion in relief support, it would amount to only $4.5 million every year for five years. At the close of those five years, that funding would disappear altogether.” [Center For American Progress, 7/3/25]
¶ October 2025: Jonathan Bush Praised Trump Administration Health Care Policies And Supported Medicaid Block Grants
October 2025: Jonathan Bush Praised The Trump Administration’s Health Care Approach And Supported Medicaid Block Grants To Give States Greater Control Over Health Care Spending. According to Bush at the Maine GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Forum, “So Medicaid is designed to be a claims based thing where you’re in the city, you go to the hospital. Maine is a rural state. It doesn't make any sense. This administration would be happy to give us our Medicaid money as a block grant to spend our own way the way we see fit; using a different delivery system, using community paramedicine as I've said before. This guy will give it to us. He's happy to do it. He doesn't feel the need to control how everything's done because this little PhD tea sippers, you know, want to control it. This is what I love about it, and I'm very excited about the ability to get that money in the bank.” [Jonathan Bush – Maine GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Forum, 10/18/25] (VIDEO)
- Medicaid Block Grants Would Eliminate Federal Coverage Guarantees And Force States To Cut Eligibility, Benefits, Or Create Waiting Lists. According to The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “The federal government’s entitlement programs reflect a commitment to meet low-income people’s basic needs in a few essential areas, including health (through Medicaid). […] All people who meet the programs’ eligibility criteria can access these programs without delay. Block-granting these programs would strip away the federal commitment to help vulnerable individuals and families who are eligible for these programs when they need them. Fixed annual funding would render the programs unable to automatically respond to increased need, as they do today. As need increases, states would have to cut eligibility or benefits or establish waiting lists to stay within capped funding.” [The Center On Budget And Policy Priorities, Archived 1/14/26]
¶ More Than 57,300 Mainers Were Expected To Lose Health Care Coverage Under Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”
Under The “One Big Beautiful Bill,” 57,395 Mainers Were Expected To Lose Their Health Care By 2034, Including 22,700 ACA Enrollees And 34,695 Medicaid Recipients. According to the Joint Economic Committee Minority,
| District | State |
Est. # Losing ACA Coverage |
Est. # Losing Medicaid Coverage |
Est. Total # Losing Insurance |
|
ME-01 |
Maine |
11,700 |
13,216 |
24,916 |
|
ME-02 |
Maine |
11,000 |
21,479 |
32,479 |
|
All |
Totals |
22,700 |
34,695 |
57,395 |
[Joint Economic Committee Minority, 6/25]
¶ Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” Threatened The Affordable Care Act Coverage For More Than 33,000 Mainers
¶ The “One Big Beautiful Bill” And The Expiring Affordable Care Act Tax Credits Would Result In 33,000 Uninsured Mainers By 2034
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” And The Expiring Affordable Care Act Tax Credits Would Result In 33,000 Uninsured Mainers By 2034. According to the Center For American Progress, “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will increase the number of Americans without health coverage in every state Estimated increase in the uninsured population due to the OBBBA and the expiration of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits, 2034”
[Center For American Progress, 9/5/25]
¶ Jonathan Bush Attacked The Affordable Care Act And Medicaid, Calling Coverage Expansion A “Crazy And Terrible Idea” And Pushing To “Roll People Back”
¶ Jonathan Bush Attacked The Affordable Care Act And Medicaid While Supporting Rolling Back Coverage
¶ Jonathan Bush Called Medicaid Coverage A “Crazy And Terrible Idea” And Pushed To “Roll People Back”
October 2025: Jonathan Bush Said He “Can’t Wait To Get [His] Hands On The Healthcare System In Maine,” Claimed Moving People Onto Medicaid Was A “Crazy And Terrible Idea,” And Called To “Roll People Back.” According to Jonathan Bush at the 2025 Maine GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Forum, “Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on the healthcare system in Maine. Oh, my lordy, shifting everybody on the Medicaid is a crazy and terrible idea, destroys the accountability with the social contract. We've got to roll people back. If you can work, you can get coverage, community care, medicine.” [Jonathan Bush, Maine GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Forum, 10/18/25] (VIDEO)
¶ Jonathan Bush Called The Affordable Care Act A “Wealth Redistribution Mechanism” That Did Not Lower Health Care Costs, And Argued Against “Jamming” People Into Federal Health Care Policies
2024: Jonathan Bush Called The Affordable Care Act A “Wealth Redistribution Mechanism” And Said It Did Not Lower Health Care Costs. According to a Jonathan Bush interview with Barron’s, “HOST: But wait, wasn't Obamacare successful? And isn't that the government getting more into the business? BUSH: Obamacare was successful at wealth redistribution, and it's fun. They call it the ‘Affordable Care Act.’ They didn't call it the ‘Less Expensive Care Act.’ So Obamacare did nothing to make healthcare itself more affordable. They just put money, tax dollars, into it to subsidize people based on their income. So as a wealth distribution mechanism, I'd say it's, you know, better than food stamps. It's a very successful, popular wealth redistribution mechanism, as is, you know, Medicare.” [Jonathan Bush Interview – Barron’s, 10/17/24] (VIDEO)
2024: Jonathan Bush Compared Forcing Everyone Into Federal Health Care Policies Like The Affordable Care Act And Medicare To “Jamming Everybody’s Nose In The Same Puppy Poop.” According to a Jonathan Bush interview with Barron’s, “HOST: What about Washington's role at all? Though here, I mean, do they have a role at all? BUSH: What I love about this country is most of the time Washington is conscientiously non cynically trying to help. Obamacare was a conscientious non cynical attempt at making sure that everybody could show up on a website somewhere and get something they could afford. What a lovely thing, the inadvertent crushing of the demand curve, and therefore the dampening of innovation and the slowing of product development. They weren't thinking. They didn't want you to ask the bay, do you want to slow product development? No, of course not. Right? In fact, here's our government sponsored innovation conference, you know? Oh, good, a government innovation conference. Thank God, we fixed that problem. So, I think of all those things in Washington as a bunch of people getting together and mostly as a group wanting to bring something good home. And certainly, Obamacare and Medicare and all these things, are those things. But you got to remember, when you jam everybody's nose in the same puppy poop, a lot of unintended downstream consequences accumulate. And I think that's always the risk with jamming everybody into one idea.” [Jonathan Bush Interview – Barron’s, 10/17/24] (VIDEO)
¶ Jonathan Bush Opposed Medicaid Coverage And Promoted Consumer Shopping In Health Care
January 2026: Jonathan Bush Said Medicaid Was Designed For People To “Bounce Back Into The Market” And Lacked “Shopping Power,” And Complained About The Number Of Mainers Receiving Medicaid Benefits. According to Jonathan Bush on the George Hale Ric Tyler Show, “Yeah, I've made my life in health care. And it's not only useful because of health care, but it's useful because it's bringing a bureaucracy that's gotten out of control back to heel, which is that which is a pattern we're going to see a lot of in Maine in the next eight years bringing a bureaucracy that's gotten out of control. Back to heel. Maine is now one in three people on Medicaid. Medicaid was designed for people who were flat on their back temporarily while they were bouncing back into the market. As a result, there's no shopping power in Medicaid. You don't have a higher co-pay if you go to the expensive place and a lower co-pay if you go to the cheap place. There's no telemedicine in a rural lot of third, most fourth, most rural state in the nation. You can't get a virtual doctor paid for on Medicaid. There's an enormous health care opportunity in Maine, just enormous. We have a law in Maine that your competitors have to agree that there's a shortage of what you want to build before you're allowed to build it. So if you're a doctor and you want to build a surgical center and do surgeries at 1/10, the cost of what it would cost to go to a big medical center, you have to get a commission in Maine that's got medical centers on it to agree there's a shortage. Well, who cares if there's a shortage? What if a guy wants to do it cheaper? What if he wants to do it faster? What if he wants to do it better? That culture needs to be the norm in Maine, that health care is a marketplace in telemedicine, that virtual care of all kinds that entrepreneurs are allowed to play without the permission of their competitors. And in that order, we got to figure out how we ended up with one in three people on what should be a temporary bounce back health care plan. We got to get them on real health care plans that don't drive hospitals out of business. Medicaid. Everybody's on Medicaid. The hospitals are out of business. Huge opportunity. Huge opportunity in health care in Maine.” [Jonathan Bush Interview – George Hale Ric Tyler Show, 1/9/26] (AUDIO)
2016: Jonathan Bush Dismissed Health Care Cost Concerns, Compared U.S. Health Care To “Soviet Gruel,” And Promoted Consumer Shopping. According to Stat News, “With an energy bordering on frenetic, Bush confidently told STAT from his Watertown, Mass., office that he knows how to fix America’s broken health care system. Reporter: ‘What’s the biggest problem in health care today?’ Bush: ‘It’s not how expensive it is, that’s the second biggest problem. The bigger problem is that health care is not a choice. We are given it Soviet gruel-style, and it feels humiliating.’ Reporter: ‘Is there a fix?’ Bush: ‘The biggest cure is something we’re actually very good at but have largely smothered in health care: the ability for people to shop.’ Reporter: ‘What do you mean?’ Bush: ‘Why cut your price if you won’t get any more patients? Why not raise your price if you won’t lose any patients? If there’s no shopping going on, just engage in price warfare monopoly practices and you’ll win.’” [Stat News, 2/6/16]
¶ 2026: There Were More Than 58,500 Mainers Enrolled In An Affordable Care Act Marketplace Plan
2026: There Were 58,523 Individuals Enrolled In An Affordable Care Act Marketplace Plan In Maine. According to KFF, in 2026, there were 58,523 individuals enrolled in affordable care act marketplace plan in Maine.
[KFF, Accessed 4/21/26]
¶ Under The “One Big Beautiful Bill,” 34,695 Medicaid Recipients In Maine Were Expected To Lose Their Health Care By 2034
Under The “One Big Beautiful Bill,” 57,395 Mainers Were Expected To Lose Their Health Care By 2034, Including 22,700 ACA Enrollees And 34,695 Medicaid Recipients. [Joint Economic Committee Minority, 6/25]
¶ The Affordable Care Act Allowed States To Expand Medicaid, Which Dramatically Lowered The Uninsured Rate Among Low-Income Workers
The Affordable Care Act Allowed States To Expand Medicaid, And States That Expanded Medicaid Dramatically Lowered The Number Of People Without Health Insurance. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "The Affordable Care Act (ACA) permits states to expand Medicaid coverage to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty level (about $20,780 annually for an individual or $35,630 for a family of three). States that have adopted the expansion have dramatically lowered their uninsured rates. Extensive research finds that the people who gained coverage have grown healthier and more financially secure, while long-standing racial inequities in health outcomes, coverage, and access to care have shrunk." [Center On Budget And Policy Priorities, 6/14/24]
- The Uninsured Rate Among Low-Income Workers Fell From 38 Percent In 2013 To 17 Percent In 2022, Which Coincided With Implementation Of Medicaid Expansion. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "Millions of workers have gained coverage through Medicaid expansion, including people working in industries that provide critical goods and services such as health care, transportation, grocery stores, food manufacturers, and child care. Many have no access to health coverage through their jobs. In expansion states, the uninsured rate among low-income workers fell from 38 percent in 2013 to 17 percent in 2022; this sharp decline coincided with a large increase in the share of low-income workers enrolled in Medicaid.[16] In non-expansion states, the uninsured rate among low-income workers fell much less, from 46 percent to 31 percent. (See Figure 3.)" [Center On Budget And Policy Priorities, 6/14/24]
¶ Bush Opposed Expanding MaineCare Benefits For Mainers Despite The Program Covering 400,000 Mainers And More Than Half Of Maine’s Children
¶ Jonathan Bush Opposed Expanding MaineCare Benefits For Mainers And Compared The Program To A “Barcalounger,” Claiming The Program Was “Not A Safety Net”
April 2026: Jonathan Bush Opposed Expanding MaineCare Benefits For Mainers And Criticized The Program’s Cost. According to Jonathan Bush’s Interview on The Ray Richardson Show, “Take a look at what we just did with MaineCare, right? Oh, we’re expanding Maine care. $300 million. Well, first of all, that’s $300 million expansion. Second of all, though, there’s another $895 million of federal spending. So if you actually are a patriot as well as a Maine lover, this is driving our debt through to a place that is, you know, increasingly unsustainable.” [Jonathan Bush Interview – The Ray Richardson Show, 4/10/26] (AUDIO)
April 2026: Jonathan Bush Opposed Expanding MaineCare Benefits For Mainers And Compared The Program To A “Barcalounger” Instead Of A Safety Net. According to Jonathan Bush’s Interview on The Ray Richardson Show, “In health care, narrow mission. The job of this state is just to help people who are utterly, unbelievably unable to get any kind of employment, sponsored health care, anything else, get in, get that brief period of their life handled, then get out, make sure that they are. Because when you don’t when you stay in and linger, you chase commercial options up and up and up until they’re less and less affordable, which is exactly what’s happening now, which is exactly why we are expanding our own tax dollars by another $300 million into a dysfunctional, pitifully poor service experience for people that does not help get them back on their feet. It is not a safety net anymore. It’s a Barcalounger.” [Jonathan Bush Interview – The Ray Richardson Show, 4/10/26] (AUDIO)
¶ Jonathan Bush Opposed Democratic Proposals For State-Run Health Care Plans And Claimed They Would Leave People “Controlled”
April 2026: Bush Claimed Democratic Proposals For State Health Care Plans Would Leave People “Controlled” And “Prevent Us From Being What We’re Supposed To Be.” According to Jonathan Bush’s Interview on The Ray Richardson Show, “Maybe you do things that you know, will suffocate our health care economy so that you can then step in and save the day. And when you think about the fact that every Democratic candidate is now announcing that they’re going to launch a state run, state owned commercial health plan, say Medicaid, and then you’ll have another they’re sort of doing a playbook there. And then, you know, they’ll have control. They’ll prevent us from being are what we’re supposed to be. They’ll keep us from being deplorable, so looking forward to being controlled.” [Jonathan Bush Interview – The Ray Richardson Show, 4/10/26] (AUDIO)
¶ About 400,000 Mainers Relied On MaineCare, Including More Than 50 Percent Of Maine’s Children
As Of July 2025, About 400,000 Mainers Relied On MaineCare, Including More Than 50 Percent Of Maine’s Children. According to the State Of Maine Department Of Health And Human Services, “Today, about 400,000 Mainers are enrolled in MaineCare, approximately 30% of all Mainers. Coverage is higher among children under 18 years old: MaineCare provides health insurance to more than 50% of Maine’s children.” [State Of Maine Department Of Health And Human Services, Archived 3/4/26]