The federal government has essentially eliminated air quality regulations, such as emission controls for power plants and for cars. The report suggests that in our normal lifestyle, incidence of asthma and other respiratory ailments will jump. Medicare and other programs that helped pay treatment costs are also being cut back. Comments and suggestions added afterwards.
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Trump policies set to increase rates
of lung disease and death, study finds
Experts warn of ‘attack on Americans’ lungs’ from cuts to air
quality health programs, environmental rollbacks and other plans
The Guardian
13 Mar 2026
Donald Trump’s policies are likely to drive soaring rates of lung disease and premature death, according to a wide-ranging new study by pulmonary specialists and public health experts analysis, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, examines policies adopted during Trump’s second term across 10 areas, including healthcare access, environmental regulation, workplace protections and vaccine uptake.
The moves are likely to increase lung disease incidences, worsen existing illness and undermine care for patients already suffering, threatening children and adults’ pulmonary health, the researchers say. Taken together, they amount to “an attack on Americans’ lungs” that could mean millions “die needlessly in the years ahead”, warned Adam Gaffney, a pulmonary physician and professor at Harvard Medical School who led the report.
Reached for comment, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said:
“The Trump administration is not
jeopardizing healthcare access for anyone.”
The most immediate concerns highlighted in the report are healthcare cuts included in Trump’s second-term tax and spending package. Known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), it slashed over $1tn from health programs, marking the largest federal healthcare rollbacks in American history.
The cuts could jeopardize access to care for millions relying on Medicaid, lowering vaccination rates for respiratory illnesses, diminishing emergency treatments and decreasing medication access, the analysis says. Gaffney said …
“Let’s say you have a patient with chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease who loses coverage, stops going to
their primary care physician, stops seeing a pulmon-
ologist, no longer has someone to prescribe their in-
halers. The simple fact is that modern medicine saves
lives, and when you take it away, it does harm”
Desai said the OBBBA included “commonsense work requirements, eligibility verification, and other reforms to slash waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid, which will strengthen the program for the Americans who rely on this vital lifeline.” He added that the administration was “pushing an ambitious overhaul of American healthcare”.
Over the past year, the Trump administration has also rolled back or weakened dozens of air pollution standards, including those limiting soot, airborne mercury and tailpipe emissions. These may increase profits for some companies but will lead to new asthma cases and more hospitalizations for respiratory illness, threatening the lung health of hundreds of thousands, the study warns.
“At every turn, this administration is putting the
potential economic gains of polluters ahead of
clean air and the respiratory health of Americans,”
… Mary Rice, director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard and study co-author, wrote in an email.
Officials have also delayed clean energy projects, forced fossil fuel power plants to operate long after planned retirement, and pushed Congress to remove California’s authority to mandate electric vehicle sales. If successful, these moves will lead to even more air pollution, the authors write, with potentially “irreversible” effects for lung health.
Desai did not comment on the researchers’ concerns about air pollution.
Other risks highlighted in the paper include delayed workplace protections for coal miners exposed to silica dust, cuts to public health funding at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration, and declining vaccine uptake under health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. The risks are likely to compound, with many people “finding themselves at the center of various vectors of harm”, said Gaffney.
A patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may face higher soot exposure due to weakened emissions standards while also losing healthcare coverage. If they smoke, further increasing their risk, they may also lose access to tobacco cessation programs due to slashed CDC funding. If the patient consumes misinformation distributed by Trump officials, they may also forgo vaccines for Covid and influenza, to which they are highly vulnerable.
And in the years to come, environmental rollbacks will also exacerbate global warming, fueling worse and more frequent wildfires that may expose the patient to more lung-harming smoke, said Gaffney.
Recent federal actions will cost Americans dearly,” said Liz Scott, a senior director at the American Lung Association who did not work on the study.
“The study highlights the stark impacts these
federal actions will have on the health of all
Americans, especially children and others
most vulnerable in our communities.”
Because lung disease affects people across the socioeconomic spectrum, no population will be completely insulated. But certain populations will suffer most because of different policy choices. While certain occupational health rollbacks will worst affect coal miners in red states, other effects may hit hardest for Black communities, who experience disproportionate rates of asthma. Gafney said …
”We have a very unequal society in many respects,
and we know lung disease hurts working class
people and poor people the most of all races.”
Scott said the study makes clear that federal agencies “must return to their public health-focused mission, protect our children and ensure that all communities have the opportunity for a healthier future.”
Gaffney, who has advocated for Medicare for All, said broad change is needed. He said …
“The array of harmful policies we are seeing is
unprecedented. We need to do more than turn
them back. We need to actually pursue positive
policies that will ensure the health of all Americans.”
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Forgetting about the discomfort that people who suffer from respiratory ailments experience – and the activities they enjoy but can no longer do, because their lungs simply can’t provide the oxygen – what steps can we each take as individuals to achieve a greater quality-of-life experience for all?
If emissions from coal-fired power plants contribute to the problem, then we do have an option: Get your electrical power from photovoltaic panels. We’d pay an initial installation cost. But … we’d recover that investment in only a few months with lower utility bills.
If emissions from gas-fired cars are a concern, we also have an option: Get an electric car – which can also be powered by photovoltaic panels. E-cars and gas cars now have comparable prices, and range of styles, though e-car maintenance costs are far less.
Finally, replacing cut grass lawns – and gas-powered mowers – with leafy trees and shrubs can give you a healthier micro-climate around your home. Maintenance cost is far less and aesthetic options are far greater.
Personally, I no longer have a drop of fossil fuel on my home site. My e-car has a range of 375 miles per charge. The gas price surge due to the Iranian war, has no effect on me. And I pay nothing for the power for my home or use my car. My only utility bills are: phone/internet and waste pick-up.
In addition, Garden Atrium homes have large-leafed plants – giant peace lilies and birds of paradise – that generate oxygen and soak up CO2. We also use Boston ferns to absorb toxins from our indoor air. (However, my wife complains – unfairly – that some of the toxins I emit are beyond what that plant can absorb.) While Garden Atrium homes were designed with this in mind, these plants can grow in planters in most homes. Our residents are allergy-free; perhaps you can be, too.
Sustainability literature dwells on energy, but isn’t better breathing a major prerequisite for a better quality-of-life experience? Instead of waiting for political leaders to solve the problem, we need to take more responsibility for our health. And … the cost is actually a lot less.
