One Year After Spending Law Signed, Enrollment and Coverage Changes Reported

One year after the spending legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law, federal data show changes across multiple programs. More than 3.5 million people have lost access to food assistance after states applied new eligibility rules. Roughly 500,000 moderate-income residents in New York lost health coverage on July 1, part of an expected total of 5 million by year-end.

Most individual tax cuts from the 2017 law were made permanent, including lower federal income-tax brackets and a higher standard deduction. The child and dependent care tax credit was expanded to let employers claim more expenses and families to deduct additional child-care costs. The adoption tax credit was altered so that up to $5,000 of the existing credit became refundable.

The legislation directed about $191 billion to the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration arrests have risen 25 percent compared with the same period last year, supported by plans to hire 10,000 additional agents and expand detention capacity. Hospitals report they are preparing for higher uncompensated-care costs and have begun reducing staff and closing some clinics.

Clean-energy developers have delayed or canceled projects representing about 7 gigawatts of capacity and more than $121 billion in planned investment after stricter rules for federal tax credits took effect. Federal student-loan limits for medical, dental, and law programs were capped at $200,000 this week.

New accounts for children under 18 will receive a $1,000 government-funded deposit beginning July 4 under the Roth-IRA-style structure created by the bill.